The power can go out for many reasons, including severe weather, equipment failures and animal contact. Sometimes an outage lasts only a few minutes, while other times an outage can go on for an extended period of time.
Our crews work around the clock to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.
Restoration process
Once an outage has been reported, we follow these steps for power restoration:
Our trucks are dispatched
Crews drive to outage sites on the same roads the rest of us do. That means that heavy traffic can slow them down.
We assess the damage
It may take time to determine the exact location of the problem, especially when dealing with underground equipment. Repairs can’t be made until the cause is determined.
We make the repairs
While we do our best to provide restoration times, it’s not always possible to do so.
We test the repairs
Crews make sure that the problem has been resolved and power can be restored.
Power is restored
We restore power to all affected customers.
Following an outage, remember to:
- Reset electric clocks, timers and alarms
- Restock your emergency kit so it's ready if needed again
Prioritization process
When there are multiple outages across the city, we must prioritize our work in specific areas.
- Critical services
- We restore outages that are most critical to public safety first. These include hospitals, fire, police and essential citywide systems.
- Stations and feeder lines
- After restoring critical services, we make repairs to stations or major feeder lines that serve the largest number of customers.
- Individual homes
- Finally, we restore power to smaller neighbourhoods, streets and individual homes or businesses.
Estimated Time of Restoration (ETR)
We do our best to keep our customers updated during outages, but providing ETRs isn’t always possible. Each outage is unique and a lot of variables can affect repair efforts, especially during widespread outages.
Who's responsible for what?
If your home’s electrical equipment is damaged, know what equipment belongs to Toronto Hydro and what equipment is your responsibility to repair.
What’s ours
- Service wire
- We're responsible for repairing or replacing the wire that comes from the street to your home.
- Connection point
- Owned by Toronto Hydro, this is where our equipment ends and yours begins.
- Electric meter
- We're responsible for your meter and will replace or repair it as needed.
What’s yours
- Standpipe or mast
- If the hardware and cables running from the connection point down the side of your house and into your home are damaged, you must have an Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) approved electrician repair it before we can restore your service.
Please note: Repairs to standpipes must be approved by the ESA. Once your repair is approved, call us at 416-542-8000 to reconnect your power.