A mistake on the part of Hydro One created a power surge that shuttered 4 Picton businesses for days this week. Some are still closed.

Magpie, Coaches Pub, the County Club and Spa, and Community Care for Seniors all suffered serious computer and electrical equipment damages and days without power in the wake of the “catastrophic” surge.

Community Care, in particular, has so much damaged equipment, including electric doors and exit signs that are not working, it cannot safely open to seniors until it is functional again.

During a scheduled outage on Friday 30 October, a Hydro One crew replaced a transformer connected to 4 buildings off Market Lane, installing 600 watts in place of the much smaller, 240-watt transformer already there. The error is thought to be the result of a faulty installation map. The Gazette is waiting on Hydro One for further details.

“It basically took out anything connected to the circuit,” said Alexandra Bake, owner of Magpie Clothing Essentials on Picton Main Street. “In my case, my furnace blew, my hot water tank blew, fridge, printer, phone system, the security system, the exit signs around the building, all of those elements blew.”

Her shop reopened Sunday after two days in the dark and tireless work by Hydro One and her own electrician to restore power. There was no heat or hot water until Tuesday.

Community Care’s building at 74 King Street will be closed until further notice. Executive Director Debbie MacDonald Moynes explained, “it was inadvertent, but Hydro sent a devastating power surge straight into our building on Friday. Our outlets are black with soot and smoke. Every single one has to be checked and the wires in behind have to be checked.

“It is affecting everything we do. We can’t even contact affected clients.”

Community Care employs 11 people who work out of 8 offices. All 13 computers are turned off for now, while they await technicians, and staff are working remotely.

Extensive Damage at Community Care for Seniors

A new, central server, which has been moved off the premises, may have protected the office computers from serious damage. “It has a large and sophisticated UPS (uninterrupted power supply unit) on it, and that saved it,” explains Ms. Moynes. “We don’t know yet about our individual computers. They were all plugged in. But each had a UPS.”

Under a normal outage, the UPS gently shuts down your computer to protect it from surges.

But the centre has a long list of equipment that is not working. “We have six electric doors, and none of the push buttons are working. Exit signs are not working. The phone system is not working. At least two large TV sets are not working. Maybe all three of them. It all means we cannot have seniors in the building.

“Two large industrial freezers for our Meals on Wheels program are not working. Those are going to be really hard to replace.”

Ms. Moynes is particularly concerned that the centre’s foot care program, which serves 13-26 clients every day, is out of operation. None of the necessary equipment, which includes a medical-grade sterilizer and two large HEPA filters, is working. “We don’t have a list printed out, so we don’t have our client’s phone numbers. We can’t get access to our information — it’s all on the server.”

“We have been doing so well with the Seniors’ Centre, all the activities, euchre, bridge, exercises, and Terry Sprague’s Friday coffee chat. It’s all really been coming into its own since we bought the building last year, but it all has to be moved off-site for now.” Regular off-site programming, including Meals-on- Wheels and transportation service, is continuing as usual.

But as for the building, Ms. Moynes is not even sure the heat will work. In other affected businesses, HVAC units were destroyed by the surge.

Nonetheless, she hopes to be open next week. “I’m an optimist,” she laughs. “Maybe Monday? I just don’t know. Everything is very uncertain, and that is hard.”

Coaches Pub reopened Tuesday, after five days of outages. It said it had not fully assessed damage, but issues with both the lighting and heating systems meant they had to close. The pub notified customers via a Facebook post.

“Unfortunately, some of our equipment, lighting, and heating system were damaged. We are currently assessing the extent of the damage and arranging necessary repairs and replacements before we can safely reopen,” it says.

At the County Club, a lot of the equipment members use is out of commission, according to owner Paul Brinco. They have yet to re-open. The incident is just one in a long list of recent difficulties for the gym.

“The County Club has been through personal issues in 2018, COVID in 2019/2020, and now a catastrophic loss in 2026. There is something to be said about how the club continues to survive. This says a lot about the people who come here.

“Many, many valuable pieces of equipment and building services were and still are not ready for us to open,” Mr. Brinco said.

Hydro One Compensation

According to affected business owners, Hydro One has acknowledged the mistake, and has offered to compensate business owners for lost revenue. “Whether or not they know how high that number is going to be, I’m not sure,” noted Ms. Bake.

Total damages are still unknown. It has been a frustrating process for all affected parties, especially for those still closed or operating at limited capacity. There are, however, silver linings. For one, none of the affected buildings caught fire as a result of the power surge.

Another positive came in the form of the community response.

As soon as the outages were reported, the Electrical Safety Authority of Ontario (ESA) stepped in to monitor the situation and provide direction. Local electricians are working with the authority and Hydro One to ensure it is safe to restore power.

Once electrical lines were determined to be safe, the job of checking the circuits in affected buildings began.

“My electrician had to go through every circuit in the building. They were crawling upstairs and downstairs, to make sure it was safe,” Ms. Bake said.

Ms. Moynes praised Tim Dainard Electric, which has worked tirelessly for days to check every circuit, switch, and wire in Community Care’s 5000-square-foot building.

“They were here right away on Friday, and they have been working with us ever since to get us through this,” said Ms. Moynes, who noted a brand new, up-to-the minute electrical panel has now been installed, replacing the now-fried 1964 panel that had been servicing the building. “Smoke was coming out of it when the power was turned back on,” notes Ms. Moynes.

The electricians were only one piece of the puzzle. It took help from services across the community to get businesses back up and running.

“I feel blessed to live in a small community where everybody knows each other,” said Ms. Bake. “My electrician, the plumber, the HVAC person, our computer company, they were right there with support. It was fantastic.”