Emergency Power and Lighting Guide

After the first 24 hours, switch from "wait it out" to "manage it". Practical steps: 1) Report the outage to your electricity utility (Hydro One, Hydro-Québec, BC Hydro, Manitoba Hydro, SaskPower, ENMAX/EPCOR, Nova Scotia Power, NB Power and others all have 24-hour outage lines and online maps) so your address is logged and you get a restoration estimate. 2) Keep the fridge and freezer closed — a full freezer stays safe for ~48 h, a fridge ~4 h (Health Canada). 3) Unplug sensitive electronics to protect against surges when power is restored. 4) Charge phones and power banks from a 12 V car USB if needed — never run the engine in an attached garage because of carbon monoxide risk. 5) Move to one warm room, close internal doors, and use blankets and layers. 6) Check on elderly neighbours, especially in deep cold. After the 1998 ice storm and the 2022 derecho, the households that coped best had a 20,000 mAh power bank, a headlamp and a non-electric heat source.

Canada has no single national power-cut hotline — outages are handled by your local electricity utility. Find your provider’s 24-hour outage number and online outage map before you need them: Hydro One or your local distribution company (Ontario), Hydro-Québec (Quebec), BC Hydro (British Columbia), Manitoba Hydro, SaskPower, ENMAX/EPCOR/FortisAlberta/ATCO (Alberta), Nova Scotia Power, NB Power, Newfoundland Power, or Maritime Electric (PEI). Save the number in your phone now. If you see a downed or sparking power line, treat it as live: stay back at least 10 metres, keep others and pets away, and call 911 immediately, then report it to your utility. Never drive over a downed line. If a line falls on your car, stay inside and call 911 unless there is a fire.

Canada has no national, automatic compensation scheme for power outages the way some countries do. Electricity is regulated province by province, and rules vary. Some utilities and provincial regulators have service-quality or reliability standards, and a few offer credits in specific circumstances (for example after missed scheduled appointments or unusually long restoration times), but most weather-related outages do not trigger an automatic payment. What to do: 1) Keep a record — note outage start and end times, and photograph any spoiled food or damage. 2) Check your home or tenant insurance: many policies cover freezer/fridge food spoilage and some cover power-interruption losses, often with a deductible. 3) Contact your utility and ask directly whether any credit applies to your situation. 4) For widespread disasters, watch for federal or provincial disaster financial assistance programs, which are announced after major events. Do not rely on compensation — the cheaper insurance is a stocked kit and backup power.

If someone in your home relies on power for medical equipment, plan ahead rather than waiting for an outage. 1) Ask your electricity utility about a medical or critical-care registry. Many Canadian utilities keep a list of life-support and medically dependent customers (for example BC Hydro’s Medical Alert program and similar programs at Hydro One and Hydro-Québec) so crews prioritise restoration and can give advance notice of planned work — but you usually have to sign up in advance, often with a doctor’s confirmation. 2) Have independent backup power — a portable power station sized to your device (confirm watt-hours and runtime with your equipment supplier), since registries do not guarantee instant restoration. 3) Build a plan with your care team for where to go if an outage outlasts your backup (a relative’s home, a designated warming/cooling centre, or hospital). 4) Enable Alert Ready on your phone so you receive emergency broadcasts.

The Health Canada rule is simple: a full freezer keeps food safe for around 48 hours unopened, a fridge for around 4 hours. To stretch this through a 3-day outage like the 2022 derecho or a post-Fiona stretch in Atlantic Canada: 1) Stop opening the doors — every peek loses an hour of cold. 2) Pack the freezer with 2-litre bottles of frozen water before the storm; ice acts as thermal mass and gives you drinkable water as it melts. 3) Move milk, yogurt, butter and meats from the fridge into the freezer in the first hour while everything is still cold. 4) Group items tightly so they cool each other — empty spaces warm fastest. 5) Pile blankets over a chest freezer to slow heat ingress. 6) After 48 h, check the freezer with a thermometer: food at or below 4 °C with ice crystals can be cooked or refrozen; anything warmer, when in doubt, throw it out. 7) If the outage runs over 3 days, a 1,000 Wh portable power station (EcoFlow Delta 2 or Bluetti AC180) can keep an efficient fridge-freezer running for 12 to 24 h per charge.