A new BC Hydro report released today finds that the number of storm events BC Hydro responded to has tripled over the past five years.
The report, which is titled "Storm Warning: The impact B.C.'s wild weather is having on British Columbians and their power," found that storms and extreme weather events are becoming more common and severe as a result of climate change. The report also found that the storms are causing more damage to BC Hydro's electrical system and are making outages more frequent.
The number of customer outages during major storm events has increased by about 265% from 323,000 customers in 2013 to 1.18 million in 2017.
According to BC Hydro, the impact of storms have not gone unnoticed by British Columbians as, in a recently conducted survey by BC Hydro, more than 75% of them agree that storms in the province are getting worse, and 20% have experienced more outages in recent years.
In B.C., falling trees and branches are the primary cause of power outages. B.C. has three times more trees per kilometre of line than anywhere else in North America. The combination of trees and adverse weather account for nearly 60% of all outages.
