Defective equipment at a BC Hydro substation caused several power outages in South Surrey and White Rock over the weekend, the utility says.
BC Hydro spokesperson Geoff Hastings told CTV News malfunctioning hardware at the company's Nicomekl substation, near the intersection of 152 Street and 32 Avenue, was the source of the outages.
On Sunday, nearby resident Veronica de Pasquali told CTV News she had heard loud booms coming from the facility. Sometimes, the booms were followed by blue smoke that was visible from her window, she said.
Though her building didn't lose power every time the noise happened -- and the power didn't stay off for very long when it did go out -- de Pasquali said she was worried about getting stuck in an elevator or underground parking garage because of an outage.
"I’m not sure what is going on at that substation, but it’s not good," she said.
On Tuesday, Hastings told CTV News crews had identified the problem as a piece of "defective equipment" at the substation. While he didn't elaborate on the technical details, he said the equipment in question would be replaced.
While crews are working on that replacement, customers normally served by the substation are getting their electricity from other parts of the system, Hastings said.
At their peak, the outages caused by the malfunction affected 16,000 BC Hydro customers in South Surrey and White Rock.
