Sometimes when bad weather happens, power outages do too. When an unplanned power outage happens, our goal is to restore your power as quickly and safely as possible. Unfortunately, we can’t restore every customer at the same time.

Make sure we know your power is out by calling us at 1 800 663 6272 or by entering either your phone number or account number in our report an outage feature on our mobile site.

In storms, NB Power crews must wait until the weather clears before they can begin to assess the damage. This means it can take some time to provide accurate estimates of when you can expect to get your power back.

In some cases, crews can restore power sooner than what we had estimated. However, in severe weather, the cause of the power outage may be difficult to locate, hard to  access, or there may be more than one cause  so the repairs may take longer.

How we set priorities for power restoration

• We start by looking at how electricity is supplied  and repair damage to power plants, transmission lines and substations
  
  
• We restore power to critical services such as hospitals, nursing homes, emergency responders,  water supply and communication systems.
  
  
• We make repairs that will return service to the largest amount of customers in the least amount of time, such as high-density housing and large neighbourhoods.
  
  
• We restore power to smaller neighbourhoods and individual customers.

Let’s dive down a little further into how we restore power with this video.

What causes power outages?

There are many reasons the power to homes or business might go out, including causes that are both in and out of our control. We work hard every year to reduce the number of outages by investing in new technologies, equipment upgrades and replacements, and tree trimming to help guarantee our grid’s reliability

But outages can, and do, still happen. Here are some of the causes for power outages in New Brunswick:

• The most common cause of outages are weather issues like lightning strikes, heavy snow or ice buildup on lines and equipment, high winds, hurricanes or other extreme weather. High winds can also cause trees and branches to contact  power lines.
  
  
• Non weather-related causes include  motor vehicle accidents, nearby construction and aging equipment that needs replacing.
  
  
• Sometimes, we have to make repairs to a substation, switchyard or switching station, which can also cause temporary outages. NB Power has 97 substations, terminals and switchyards that take power from the transmission system and convert it to a voltage that will work in your home. If an outage starts at a substation, it’s usually because a specific piece of equipment needs repairs, because wildlife got into the station, or it was vandalized.
  
  

What types of outages are there?

Sometimes you will hear us refer to a transmission or a distribution outage which are two different things, though each affects your home or business in the same way. Transmission outages often affect a larger number of customers (more than a thousand), while distribution outages are smaller in number.

When we say we’re experiencing a transmission outage, it means electricity is being interrupted somewhere along the 6,849 km of high voltage transmission lines that travel across the forests of New Brunswick and connect our communities.

When one of these outages happens, our crews often have to travel long distances either by ground or air patrols to find the issue, which can take some time. Once they find the problem, they can often bring power back to some customers by re-routing electricity through neighboring power lines and substations. But those customers who are in the direct path of the issue usually can’t be re-routed, and will have to wait until repairs are made. 

Our distribution system delivers power directly to homes and businesses. New Brunswick has 20,815 km of distribution lines. That’s the same distance as driving from Fredericton to Vancouver Island 3.5 times.

You see these lines along streets or connecting to homes in back lots. When this kind of outage happens, NB Power crews can usually fix the problem quickly, unless it happens in a major storm and there are many localized outages caused by multiple issues. Sometimes distribution outages can still take a while to repair, like when a line or pole needs to be repaired or replaced.

What you can do to be safe during an outage

• If a tree has fallen onto a power line near you and is causing an outage, please don’t attempt to remove it yourself- always assume the line is still energized.
  
  
• If you see a downed power line, call us immediately at 1 800-663-6272 and stay at a safe distance from it and anything it may be touching, including puddles of water and fences.
  
  
• If you or a family member has special medical equipment that requires power to operate, please make sure we know about you so we can get to you quickly.
  
  
• If you have a generator, make sure you have a certified electrician install it to code- this will help keep your home and our line workers safe. Make sure you never use a generator indoors (this includes garages & other enclosed areas.) A generator’s engine exhaust gives off Carbon Monoxide (CO), which is a colorless, odourless and deadly gas. Only operate them in areas where the exhaust can’t enter your home through windows or doors.
  
  
• Turn off all tools, appliances and home electronic equipment and turn your thermostats down to avoid load issues or fire hazard when power is restored.

Find more tips for preparing your home for weather-related power outages in our emergency guide.

Just because you don’t own your home, doesn’t mean you don’t have control over your energy use.

There are many ways renters can reduce their electricity use. If you make these small changes around your home, you could start to see a big change on your electricity bill. If these tips fit in with your lifestyle and schedule, try them out to start saving! 

1. Don’t overheat:

   
   Try to keep your room temperature at 20°Cwhen you’re home.  Lowering your room temperature by 4°C while sleeping and before you leave the house (only if you’ll be gone for a few hours) is the best way to save on heat. 
   
   Renters tip:
   
   There are still lots of thermostats out there that can be off by as much as 3 – 5° C. To help you find out if your thermostat is showing the right temperature, hang an inexpensive thermometer on the wall next to your thermostat. It will tell you what the temperature inside your room is. Set your thermostat to match what your thermometer says to stop overheating. 

2. Use plastic window kits:
   

   
   Plastic window kits are an inexpensive way to increase the performance of any window.  They will help keep the heat in and prevent condensation and frost from forming on the glass during the winter months. 
   
   Renters tip:
   
   Lay a strip of blue paint tape down first, and then apply the tape that comes with the plastic. That way it's easy to remove and won’t tear away the paint when you remove it in the spring!

3. Limit hot water use:

   
   
   Taking short showers, especially when using a low flow showerhead, uses a lot less water than taking a bath. 
   
   Renters tip:
   
   Use a dollar store egg timer to help you limit your showers to 10 minutes. If each person in your house does this every day, the savings will add up. You can even turn it into a competition with your roommates to see who can shower the quickest!

4. Turn it off:

   
   
   Turn off any light or appliance you’re not using. It’s the easiest way to save money on your power bill.  If it's not in use, turn it off. 
   
   Renters Tip:
   
   Plug computer equipment and home entertainment devices (like sound systems, television, DVD player and digital receivers) into a single power bar. If you do this, you can turn off all these devices at once to keep them from drawing phantom load when they’re not in use.
   
   Remember to unplug devices like laptop, phone and camera chargers once the device is charged.

5. Change it up:
   

   
   If you are shopping for a new appliance or an electronic device, look for products displaying the ENERGY STAR® symbol.  ENERGY STAR® certified products are in the top 15-30% of their class in terms of energy performance.
   
   Renters Tip:
   
   You can also swap out incandescent light bulbs for ENERGY STAR® qualified light bulbs (CFL or LED). These light bulbs use up to 75% less energy than regular incandescent bulbs. 

What have you done to save energy in your rental? Do you have any special tricks for saving energy? Share it with us in our comment section below.

On Saturday, September 19, New Brunswick electric vehicle owners will show their cars off on Queen Street in Fredericton as part of our electric car show during the Harvest Jazz and Blues festival. One of those car owners is David Alston, a local tech entrepreneur and mentor.

Here’s David’s EV story.

When I first took a test drive of the Volt at the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas back in March of 2011 I fell in love with its tech and its promise to reduce the carbon footprint of driving. 

It was a chance for Chevy to showcase it's green offering to thousands of gadget loving, social media types that would hopefully gladly share their experience on Facebook, Twitter and the like. I was impressed with the approach and the car. So much so that I wanted to know how to get my hands on the first one shipped to New Brunswick when it would roll out in Canada the following year. 

With deposit in hand, I marched down to my local Chevrolet dealer and got in the queue. But it's interesting how much time and branding can have an effect on you. 

With the 18-month wait, I gradually started to forget the experience and I started to worry about my choice. You see, my previous experience with General Motors cars had been driving some 10 year old Olds and Buicks back in my final years at university. Those cars had been on their last legs, to be fair, but the experience had pushed me hard toward buying Japanese brands as soon as I graduated, and I hadn't wavered from that choice for over 20 years. 

I eventually caved and retrieved my deposit. I chickened out.

But it happened that a couple of colleagues of mine had also placed themselves in the queue and were the first in our area to receive a shiny new blue Volt. They drove it to and from work with pride, bragging that after months of ownership they still had the same gas in the gas tank as when they purchased it - they were nearly able to drive solely on electric charges! Now that's an awesome stat. 

My interest peaked once again and I asked if they minded if I could take it for a test drive after work one day. The feeling came back and I was sold.  

At the time, the Canadian dollar was trading at par with the US so I decided I'd look for a one year old Volt in the US and import it. I still remember seeing it for the first time all shined up in the bay of World Class Auto. 

With an electric engine, the acceleration is instant and smooth and all I heard was the tires on the road as we turned on to the road for the premier test drive. This is a car built solid and with a suspension that seems to float on air and the trim inside was as nice as any luxury vehicle on the market. I was very pleased with my new mode of transportation.

While the Volt comes with a regular 110V charger that would easily fully charge the vehicle overnight I decided to purchase a 220V charger from Sun Country Highway for around $500 and have my local electrician install it in my garage- it took maybe 15 minutes to install. I wanted to have the option of a 4-hour quick charge as we make regular trips to and from the city to pick up and drop off the kids for their activities etc...  We can sometimes even drive to and from town twice on a single charge if we watch our speeds and acceleration and take advantage of the regenerative braking. 

Keep in mind, a single charge takes 10 kw/h of power or costs roughly about $1.12 at today’s power rates. I can go for about 55 to 70 kms on a charge depending on the terrain during the summer and 35 to 50 kms in the winter - cold affects batteries in the winter and these cars also use more power for the heaters. Either way, I figure that for a $1.12 I am generally going at least 3 times the distance of a typical gas only car and paying 3 times less!

What's also cool is that electric engines don't need oil changes. Only the backup gas powered motor/generator built into it does, so I generally only get one oil change per year.  

The Volt also runs on gas when the charge of the batteries runs out. The switch over is not noticeable other than the quiet whir of the generator now running in the background. This feature extends the range of the Volt by another 550 kms. Yes, that means you drive the Volt just like any other vehicle but with the option of driving electric when it's charged up. 

We've done return trips to New Hampshire, New York and PEI in the Volt, of course mostly using the gas engine. 

It's what I love about the Volt - it's as economical as you can get for commuting but still has all the stuff of a regular car for road trips.

Meet David and other electric vehicle owners from 12-5pm during the car show on Queen Street in Fredericton. You can also find out what it’s like to drive an electric vehicle during the EV test drive from 12-pm as well.

If you can’t make it, but have questions about EV’s for David, you can find him on Twitter @davidalston.

We’re excited to be back on Queen Street with Siemens Canada and the Gaia Project to celebrate the 25^th year of Fredericton’s Harvest Jazz and Blues festival from September 18-20. It’s always a great opportunity for us connect with you and show off some of the amazing, innovative projects we’re working on to help you save energy and money.

Take a walk through the home of the future and learn more about some exciting new energy efficiency products. Snap a selfie with our Smart Habits heroes, Wattson and Volt and upload them to your favorite social media channel with the hashtag #smarthabits for a chance to win tickets to Harvest Jazz and Blues shows.

After taking the tour, fill out one of our ballots for a chance to win an Evo electric bike thanks to our friends at the Radical Edge. We’ll be drawing a winner for the bike on Sunday.

Speaking of sustainable transportation, be sure to check out Atlantic Canada’s first electric car show and test drive from 12-5pm on Saturday. You’ll be able to find out what it’s like to own and drive one of these cars from electric vehicle (EV) owners from across the province- yes, this includes a Tesla. If you like what you hear, you can hop into some EV’s and go for a spin around the block, thanks to some of the certified New Brunswick electric car dealers. Remember to bring your driver’s license.

Our Smart Grid partners, Siemens Canada will help you generate virtual electricity with the power of your mind with Mind2Motion. Here, you can measure your brain frequency - the harder you concentrate, the faster the wind turbine on the screen spins, actually showing RPM.

Our education partner, The Gaia Project will demonstrate its custom-built traveling lab designed to provide hands-on learning around renewable energy. The Mobile Energy Centre is equipped with two solar panels - one for heat and one for electricity, a wind turbine, a hydro demonstration and bike generator. You can also take their pedal power challenge to see how much energy you can produce.

There’s so much happening right here in New Brunswick. The future of Electricity looks a lot like this!

With the help of smart phones and tablets, it’s now easier for you to do more online, whether it’s shopping, banking or booking trips. Why should your power bill be any different? That’s why we set up our new website to make it easy for you to receive and pay your bills online, when it’s convenient for you. 

Going paperless

If you’re not already one of the 30,000 New Brunswickers who have signed up for paperless billing, you can get started here. 

Once you’ve created a profile on nbpower.com, you can begin managing your bills, see how much energy you’re using and set up a payment plan. If you want to help reduce your environmental impact, but you need a paper copy of your bill from time to time- don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. In your online profile, you can view and print off a pdf version of your bill to keep for your records. 

The end of epost

As of September 1, 2015 our bills will no longer be delivered through Canada Post’s epost™ service.  If you’ve been using this service to receive your bills, we encourage you to sign up for our paperless billing on nbpower.com in order to keep receiving your bills electronically. With our paperless option, you will receive a monthly reminder when your bill is ready to view- just like you would with epost.

Paying your bills 

• If you do your banking online, you can select Energie NB Power from a drop down menu in the “add a payee” section to get set up to pay directly from your bank.

• You can set it and forget it, with a pre-authorized payment plan, which will automatically take out a set amount each month from your bank account to pay your monthly balance.
• You can also set up one time payments right inside your nbpower.com online account. Here’s what you will need to do that: 

You can save this information in your account to use for future payments, so you can pay even quicker going forward. 

Are you ready to make the switch?

Check out the Accounts and Billing page on nbpower.com to find more information on going paperless and to learn about some handy payment plans to help you manage your power bills.