Large power outage ‘due to concern for individual’s safety’: Kingston Police

On the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, Kingston Police confirmed that a large power outage affecting the downtown, central and east areas of Kingston that afternoon was a precautionary measure to safeguard the safety of an individual who had accessed the Hydro One transmission station compound in the area of Division Street and John Counter Boulevard.

“There were significant concerns for this individual’s safety and out of an abundance of caution hydro was shut down to a widespread area very briefly until all safety concerns were addressed and the individual was successfully removed from the compound by police,” Kingston Police said following inquiries from Kingstonist. “There was no risk to public safety as a result of this incident. Following the incident, Hydro One and Utilities Kingston crews partnered to restore power as quickly and safely as possible to the community.”

Utilities Kingston confirmed that as of 4:15 p.m., all power had been restored, but were not certain how many customers had been affected. “We will provide the total number of customers affected as soon as we receive the report from operations,” Utilities Kingston said.

Due to the wide-spread nature of this outage, the outage map and Utilities Kingston phone lines were temporarily overwhelmed and Utilities Kingston thanked residents for their patience during the incident.