40K customers in Calgary area affected by power outage, ENMAX says

CALGARY -- A number of power companies have confirmed an outage Sunday afternoon affected thousands of customers throughout the province, including a large number in Calgary.

The outage was first reported at about 3:30 p.m., when Fortis Alberta said there was an issue with a line coming into the province from B.C.

The Alberta Electrical System Operator (AESO) also said that it had to do with weather issues.

Weather related issue impacting Alberta's electricity system this afternoon and causing power outages. Currently investigating. We will provide an update as soon as we know more.

— AESO (@theAESO) June 7, 2020

ENMAX, the company that supplies electricity to thousands of customers in the Calgary area confirmed the issue to CTV News and said a large number of customers were affected.

"About 40,000 customers in the Calgary area were affected and we've restored service to approximately 13,700," said Julia Perkins, external relations advisor for ENMAX, in an email.

Tom Sampson, the director for Calgary's Emergency Management Agency, also took to social media to reassure Calgarians that all would be well.

There is a Province wide power problem as a result some sort of interruption between BC and Alberta. Load changes have caused a number of substations to take some individuals power off line. Told that AESO has it figured out now and power should restore within 30 minutes. #YYC

— Tom Sampson (@iceTyyc) June 7, 2020

By about 4:45 p.m., the power was restored in most of the affected areas.

ENMAX added it was also aware of an issue with the outage map listed on its website and it is addressing that technical issue as well.

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  Power was disrupted in a wide area of the province Sunday, including in areas of Calgary and Edmonton.