Update: 1:15 p.m.
Planned work by FortisBC caused this morning’s (Jul. 21) huge power outage in Kelowna.
“That planned work caused a momentary trip,” said Jas Baweja with FortisBC. “Our crews were able to get everyone’s power back on within about 35 minutes.”
Baweja said the work was being done at a substation in Kelowna when the outage occurred.
Update: 12:15 p.m.
Power has been restored to all FortisBC customers following a massive power outage stretching from north Kelowna to Vaseux Lake south of Penticton.
“It looks like everyone is back on now,” said Jas Baweja with FortisBC. “We were able to safely reroute power from other areas of the grid to restore service.”
Baweja said they are still trying to determine what caused the outage.
Update 11:50a.m.
Power has now been restored for the majority of FortisBC customers. The FortisBC map now shows only Highway 97 south to KLO Road still affected, which includes around 6,200 customers.
outage
At the height of the outage, 30,700 customers were without power, a FortisBC representative told Capital News.
They said that the cause of the outage is still unknown.
Original 11:30a.m.
As temperatures are expected to reach the high thirties, more than 17,000 FortisBC customers are in the dark from the north end of Kelowna to Chute Lake Road down to the west side of Skaha Lake around 11:30a.m. on July 21.
FortisBC has reported that it is a transmission outage.
It is unclear when the power will be restored.
Capital News has contacted FortisBC and will update the situation as it becomes available.
