Codroy Valley couple fed up with the flickering, as constant power outages spark frustration

"12:15, 12:22, 12:50, 1:00."

Keith Ryan reads from his notebook at his kitchen island at his house in the Codroy Valley.

He moved home to the tiny outport of O'Regan's, home to a few dozen people, to retire more than 10 years ago. He soon noticed frequent power outages. They were happening so often, he and his wife Sylinda started recording them, fastidiously writing down the time and date their lights would go out.

"It could be the nicest kind of day and the power keeps blinking," Ryan said.

The brief losses of power cause his appliances to reset and beep, incessantly, when they turn back on. Sometimes it happens dozens of times an hour.

Ryan spoke publicly about his annoyance in 2019, but the frequent and abrupt outages continued. The couple pay close to $200 for power a month.

"You expect reliable power. This is not reliable power," he said.

Newfoundland Power knows there's a problem. The utility says there have been 19 power interruptions in the area already this year, citing extreme wind and weather as causes. The region sees wind gusts in excess of 130 km/h at times. 

Ryan says that the Codroy Valley certainly does see high winds, but his frequent power shutoffs are happening mostly on calm, sunny days.

The power company says the problem could also be due to a fallen tree branch, or birds on the wires. The company says it does extensive tree trimming in the area. 

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, which transmits power to the Doyles Terminal station — which in turn is distributed to Codroy Valley customers by Newfoundland Power — says its system does not show hundreds of outages.

The company frequently does work on the terminal station and says there are no major connection concerns.

Hydro suggested the frequent quick outages could be due to salt, snow or ice on the lines. 

"While we can't speak to this specific issue experienced by Newfoundland Power's customer, in our experience, sudden quick outages and flickering are typically related to localized trips ... resulting from weather-related issues. The most common issue is salt contamination," said Jill Pitcher, spokesperson for N.L. Hydro.