Latest Outages
No Outages Reported
Reliability
In Nunavut, power outages are a way of life, much like blizzards and snow storms. Qulliq Energy Corporation works hard to provide reliable power to Nunavummiut through Nunavut Power, and has a reliability rate of 99.87%. Nonetheless, there is always the possibility of a power outage, and the best way to handle one is to be prepared.
Outage Preparedness
Before the Power Outage
- The first thing you should have is an emergency plan and an emergency kit.
- Decide on an emergency plan with your entire family so everyone knows what to do when the power goes off. Also ensure that everyone is aware of where you keep the emergency kit.
- Your emergency kit should contain everything you need to stay safe and comfortable during the power outage. See the emergency kit checklist to get an idea of what your emergency kit should contain.
- Alwasy keep one phone in your house that attaches to the wall with a cord. This type of phone will likely still work during a power outage, but a cordless phone (the kind that sits in a recharging base) will not.
- Make sure you post the emergency phone number of your local power plant near your corded telephone, along with other emergency numbers, so you can contact them and let them know that the outage is affecting your area.
- You can protect some of your more sensitive electronic equipment, like home computers or DVD players by installing power protection devices, such as surge suppressors.
- If you or someone in your household has special needs, contact your regional health authority to discuss what to do in case of power failure.
During the Outage
- Turn off all electrical appliances that were on before the power outage. This will prevent possible inury and allow power to be restored more easily.
- Turn off all the lights in your home, expect one inside and one outside. The light inside will let you know when power is restored to your home, and the light outside will let Nunavut Power know when the power is restored to your residence.
- Keep the doors to your refrigerators and freezers closed as much as possible. A freezer that is two-thirds full will keep its contents frozen for two days if left unopened. When it comes to the contents of your fridge it is best to follow the rule "when in doubt, throw it out".
- Listen to your battery-powered radio. This is how you can monitor the situation and check for updates in your area.
After the Outage
- Turn on your most essential appliances first, and then wait 10 or 15 minutes to turn everything else on. This gives the electrical system a chance to stabilize and adjust to the load.
- Check your freezer and refrigerator to see if they are running properly. Throw away anything that you suspect has expired while the power was off.
- Reset your clocks, automatic timers and alarms.
- Restock anything that you may have used from your power outage emergency kit.
- Check your kit once a year to make sure everything is in working order. Replace the extra batteries.
|
