Auditor general deplores ‘marked decline’ in Hydro-Québec’s reliability


“The reliability of distribution service has declined over the last few years.”

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Power outages in Quebec are becoming more frequent and lasting longer when they occur, leading Quebec’s auditor general to report a “marked decline” in Hydro-Québec’s quality of service at a time when demand for electricity continues to grow.

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In her report tabled on Wednesday, Guylaine Leclerc found that over the past decade, the number of power failures in the province had gone from 36,134 in 2012 to 42,035 in 2021. During that same period, the average duration of a power outage had grown from 100 minutes to 163 minutes.

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Leclerc expressed concerns over the quality of service offered by the utility to the millions of Quebecers who rely on it for heat and light.

And far from improving, things have gone from bad to worse. In 2020, Hydro-Québec set the objective of reducing the average duration of an outage from 189 minutes to 175 minutes by 2025. But in the meantime, that average has continued to climb. In 2021, the average duration was 201 minutes. But rather than stick with its original objectives, Hydro-Québec loosened them, an average of 221 minutes now being the target for 2026.

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Generally, Leclerc reported a “marked decline” in the service offered by the Crown corporation to its millions of clients, deploring as well the lack of effort on the part of Hydro-Québec to prevent outages and replace aging infrastructures.

“The reliability of distribution service has declined over the last few years,” she wrote, adding that a plan in 2020 to reduce the number of outages had not delivered the expected results. That plan, originally budgeted at $800 million, had to be increased by 43 per cent to $1.1 billion.

The report also remarks on shortcomings when it comes to “preventive maintenance” aimed at avoiding an increase in outages. Only one-quarter of the work expected to be completed by the end of 2021 had in fact been carried out.

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The increase in power outages are expensive — between 2016 and 2021, Hydro-Québec devoted $144 million to $202 million for repair costs.

To avoid outages, it is important for the utility’s infrastructure to be in good operating condition. However, the report found that Hydro-Québec, the centrepiece of the Legault government’s efforts to carry out the province’s energy transition, “is not equipped” to face the challenge posed by its aging infrastructure, a worrisome phenomenon that will become more acute in the coming years, according to the report.

The report notes shortcomings in the utility’s strategy to replace aging equipment, estimating that 7,000 to 30,000 power line poles will need to be replaced annually by 2035 and 14,000 transformers replaced by 2030. However, Leclerc worries there is a real risk that Hydro-Québec, lacking sufficient personnel, won’t be able to complete those tasks.

“Sound management of Hydro-Québec’s distribution network is essential, since Hydro-Québec provides an essential commodity to nearly all of the population of Quebec and the historical acquisition costs of these assets is about $17 billion,”  she wrote.

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