OLDS — A raven created a power outage in Olds when it got tangled up in electrical equipment in the town, a FortisAlberta spokesman says.
The outage occurred at 7:54 a.m. on June 29. Power was restored at 8:41 a.m.
“A raven got tangled up into a piece of our equipment right in the town of Olds,” Tanya Croft, manager of corporate communications for FortisAlberta said in an email.
Croft said 1,661 customers were impacted -- all in Olds.
Although the heat wave does not appear to have been the direct cause of the power outage, consumers have been using power at an extraordinary rate during its hottest days.
On June 28, Albertans set an all-time record for summertime power use in the province, utilizing 11,414 megawatts (MW) of electricity. The previous record for summertime use had been 11,169 MW, set in 2018.
Here are some tips Albertans can use to cut down on electricity use, especially during peak times, provided courtesy of AESO (the Alberta Electric System Operator):
• Turn off lights and electrical appliances that you’re not using.
• Minimize the use of air conditioning units.
• Delay the use of major power-consuming appliances like washing machines, dryers and dishwashers until after the peak hours of 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• Use cold water for washing clothes. Most of the energy consumed is used to heat water. Also, only wash full loads.
• Cook with your microwave, crockpot or toaster oven instead of the stove.
• Limit the use of kitchen or bathroom ventilation fans.
• Use motion detector lights in storage areas, garages, and outdoors when you can.
• Use a laptop to do your work instead of a desktop computer. Laptops are more energy efficient.
