Reported power surge in Ulukhaktok costs family over $2,000 in lost appliances

A woman in Ulukhaktok, N.W.T. is waiting to find out if she'll be compensated by the territory's power corporation after she says a power surge damaged a number of her appliances and kept her family in the dark for a coldDecember weekend.

Susan Kaodloak, her husband and her children were in their home on the morning of Friday, December 9, when she says a sudden surge ripped through her electrical lines.

"We were lucky that we were at home," she said. "All the smoke started filling the living room, and you could hear the lightbulbs starting to burst or something.

"My [teenage] son was sleeping in the bedroom when this was all happening, and we couldn't [physically] go and wake him up, so we started yelling at him from the living room. We were worried there was going to be a fire that started."

Kaodloak and her husband quickly unplugged what appliances they could, throwing a smoking Bell receiver outside onto their porch. Her husband moved to shut off the home's circuit breaker, but not before the family lost two televisions, two receivers, two lamps, a microwave, a coffee potand the circuit board on their furnace and thermostat.

After calling the Northwest Territories Power Corporation in Inuvik, Kaodloak was informed that a worker would not be able to arrive in Ulukhaktok to fix the issue until Monday, meaning the family would have to wait for three days without power. That weekend, temperatures in Ulukhaktok dropped to -27 C, with nearly 70 kilometre/hour winds.

A group of friends Joe Kuneyuna, Gibson Kudlak, Joshua Oliktoak, and Adam Kudlak worked on the family's furnace and were able to get it restarted, and a neighbour, Joanne Ogina, allowed her to power it from her own home using extension cords.

Then, Kaodloak and her husband sent their children to their grandparents, lit some candles, and hunkered down.

"We were worried," she said. "You know, it's December. Things freeze pretty quickly, so we were worried that our pipes were going to freeze in the house and burst."

Other surges reported in community

Residents of Ulukhaktok have been reporting power surges over the winter, but Power Corporation spokesperson Pam Coulter says the Corporation "isn't aware of any power surges happening in Ulu.

"The power coming out of our plant has been consistent," she said. "However, we have heard from some customers that they're experiencing voltage dimming, which happens when they've got a stove on [for example], and a blender, and they turn the dryer on. The lights are going down and dimming, and coming back up again."

Coulter says that power demand in the community increases significantly during the winter months, as residents plug in their vehicles and space heaters, and "that can cause a bit of instability there."

Coulter saysthe Power Corporation has had crews in the community three times since December and that they "think [they've] got the problem." She said crews replaced corroded power line connections that may have deteriorated as a result of being on the shores of the Arctic Ocean.

"There's still maybe an issue with the transformer that we're looking at," she said. "The crew's gone back to Inuvik, they're looking at the data that they've got, and they're going to look at the next steps to take."

Kaodloak has submitted an insurance claim to the Power Corporation in an attempt to replace her lost appliances, at a cost of approximately $2,250, but hasn't yet received a response. In the meantime, she's unplugging her appliances when she leaves her home, in the hopethat they will be saved from a potential recurrence.

"You know, we don't have this kind of money to spare," she said. "We live in one of the most isolated communities in the North, and it's pretty expensive to live up here.

"And to have to put out this expense, it's pretty hard."