Hydro Ottawa: burnt switch cut power to 2,500+ West Barrhaven customers Friday

A burnt switch caused Friday's power outage across West Barrhaven, Hydro Ottawa's media relations team told the Bugle, and just over 2,500 customers lost power around 2:11 p.m. Switching restored the majority within 12 minutes, and Hydro Ottawa says all customers were back on by 4:39 p.m.

The utility says repairs proceeded in phases rather than all at once, which is why some residents saw their power come and go more than once through the afternoon. Some customers experienced a brief secondary outage while crews transferred them back to the main feed as repairs finished, Hydro Ottawa said.

That phased, in-and-out pattern matched what the Bugle's own household and neighbours reported in real time. Our power first went out before 3:06 p.m. and came back at 3:26 p.m., then dropped again at 4:01 p.m. before holding for good at 4:44 p.m.

Other residents in the public Facebook group "Let's Talk ~ Barrhaven" described the same on-off pattern through the afternoon: Yee Chung John posted "Mine was off for 10 minutes, back on for 1, off again for 5, and back on again," and Maria Imerti reported a repeat outage in the same thread. Not everyone was affected: the outage sat in a defined wedge of West Barrhaven, and residents near Strandherd and Greenbank and around Costco Centre reported no interruption.

Group members also reported traffic lights down at Greenbank and Strandherd and stores and banks closing in the area while the outage was live.

The Bugle thanks Hydro Ottawa media relations for the detailed, on-the-record response to our inquiry.