After an Ottawa storm: Hydro Ottawa's queue, your side of the wall, and the repair

Ice, wind, water, lightning: what each leaves behind

Hydro Ottawa counts 50 poles lost in the 1998 ice storm, 88 after the 2018 tornadoes and more than 400 damaged by the derecho of May 21, 2022. Freezing rain on April 5, 2023 left ice on trees and wires for days. Each kind of storm leaves different damage at the house.

• Ice. ESA says the weight of ice and snow stresses lines and brings trees and branches down on them. Your service wire can end up under that load.
• Wind. ESA’s list: a broken mast, a mast pulled away from the wall or off the meter base, sagging wires. Each can be a shock or fire hazard while the lights still work.
• Water. ESA lists burst pipes and backed-up water mains as flood sources. When the basement floods, the panel often sits in it.
• Lightning. After a surge, ESA names GFCI and AFCI devices and hard-wired smoke and CO alarms as the gear to check. See surge protection.

Say in your request which of these you had; each needs different parts.

Where your house sits in Hydro Ottawa’s queue

After a major storm, Hydro Ottawa restores power in this order:

1. Public safety issues and emergencies
2. Substations and main lines
3. Hospitals, water and sewage plants, schools, emergency services
4. Lines that bring back the most customers
5. Smaller neighbourhood clusters
6. Individual homes and businesses with damaged electrical equipment

After the derecho, half of affected customers had power in the first 48 hours. A few dozen waited nearly two weeks because their own home systems were damaged. Step six depends on the owner: ESA says to start repairs at once, since the utility reconnects only after them. A request sent early lets the electrician start while crews still work on the higher steps.

The order of calls once the wind drops

1. 9-1-1 and Hydro Ottawa for a line on the ground. ESA says stay 10 metres back; live lines can hide under branches, snow or ice.
2. Hydro Ottawa at (613) 738-6418 to confirm which equipment on your wall is yours. It also checks for trees near the overhead wires.
3. Your insurer, to open the claim and learn what it needs from the contractor.
4. The form on this site, with photos of the wall taken from the ground.

Smoke or a hot outlet on an ordinary night belongs on the emergency electrician page.

The tree on the service wire

Hydro Ottawa splits tree work by wire. Its crews keep at least three metres clear around the primary lines between poles. The service wire, the smaller one from the pole to your house, is the owner’s to keep clear. Any trimming within three metres of a line needs a temporary planned outage, which Hydro Ottawa arranges for you or your contractor. Storm debris on your lot is yours to clear; City trees go to 3-1-1.

ESA says limbs leaning on or caught in lines are reported to the utility and left alone. When a limb has pulled the wire and bent the mast, the tree, the utility’s wire and the electrician’s repair all matter. Say whether the branch still rests on the wire.

Water in the basement

ESA’s flood guideline: breakers, fuses, switches, receptacles, dimmers, GFCI and AFCI devices and residential panels are replaced when they were under water or sprayed. ESA advises against drying equipment out and switching it back on, and replaced parts are destroyed. The Ontario Electrical Safety Code requires wet equipment to be evaluated before it returns to service.

If water rose above the outlets, baseboard heaters or furnace, or reached the panel, ESA says stay out and have the utility disconnect the house. Reconnection may then need ESA’s written authorization. ESA also keeps generators off wiring touched by water; for a safe setup, see generator hookup. Give the highest water line in centimetres and what it reached.

Temporary feed, temporary repair, permanent repair

Storm repairs often come in stages. ESA’s guideline for utility crews allows, in some cases, a temporary feed straight to the meter base when a steel mast is creased. An electrician can also make a temporary repair that ESA accepts so the house is energized again. A letter from ESA or the utility then gives 30 days to make it permanent.

Ask for two prices: what restores power now, and what finishes the job inside those 30 days. Masts and meter bases have their own page: service mast and meter base.

What storm repairs cost, and the papers to keep

The table above covers the usual storm jobs. A flooded panel means a replacement, so the panel line matters after high water; a torn mast falls under the mast and service entrance lines. After-hours work runs 1.5 to 2 times the standard rate on the HomeStars guide.

ESA says that with a mast claim you pay the deductible and send the insurer your receipts. The written quote should split temporary and permanent work, name each part replaced, and show hours, rate, the ESA fee and HST. Keep the ESA Certificate of Acceptance for your insurer. In Ontario, work over $50 needs a written agreement, and the bill can exceed an estimate by 10% at most unless you sign a change.

Who you are dealing with

Ottawa Electric Desk takes your storm-damage request and passes it to one independent local electrical company. That company calls you back, sorts out the repair with ESA and Hydro Ottawa, and does the work on your side of the meter.