Manitoba Hydro won't fix broken and unsafe pole, gives homeowner 7 days to make repair or lose power

A man in a rural Manitoba communitysays the province's power and gas utilitywon'trepair a broken hydro pole in his backyard, andhas given him a week to fix it or his power will be shut off.

"They say it's my responsibility. It's my pole, that's what they say,"said Jason Philion, who lives in Garson, Man., about 40 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

Philionsays he was working on his back deck last Thursday when atree fell on somepower lines. Minutes later, he heard aloudcrackingsound and watched as apole that was attached to the linesbuckled and snapped at the base. He immediately called Manitoba Hydro.

"The Hydro guy shows up, comes, he looks at it, he goes, 'Oh that's bad,'"said Philion.

The worker helped him cut the tree off the power lines and secure the pole to his deck to keep it from toppling over completely.

But adding insult to injury, Philion says he was told the damaged pole is unsafe, andwas given seven days to get it fixed or his power would be shut off.

"Just as he's gettinghis truck to leave, he's driving on the grass and rolls the window [down] and goes, 'Oh by the way you're gonna have a timeline to do this because it's dangerous,' and he leaves. And I'm standing there looking at him, like, 'So you're leaving it like this?'" said Philion.

Philion called a couple of electricians. They came to look at the pole and told him it belongs to Manitoba Hydro, he says.

"They don't want to touch it," said Philion. "This is Hydro's stuff. Their meter."

He says the Crown corporation refused to fix it, and heeventually got an electrician to agree to do the work.

Philionborrowed atrailer and drove to Anolaon Saturday to buy a replacement pole. Monday morning, he calledto get a permit but it was "Hydro Monday," and employees were on an unpaid day off work.

"So now I've only got Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdaythreedays to get someone to dig a hole, get the pole in, get Hydro guys down here, make arrangements for them to be here to switch all this over," said Philion.

"They have to have a crew standing here watching this guy touch their stuff. That's their procedure. Does this make any sense?"he said, adding the pole kept swinging in the wind even after he and the utility worker tied it to the deck. He laternailed some wood boards to it and anchored them to the ground.

'It's a customer-owned pole': Hydro

Manitoba Hydro says while the overheadwires and the electric meter are its property, the pole belongs to the homeowner.

"It's a customer-owned pole and the customer's responsibility to fix it by hiring a qualified electrician and completing the work under the Manitoba Electrical Code," said Bruce Owen, the company's media relations officer.

Despite that, Owensays Manitoba Hydro tries to work with customers in these types of situations.

"We temporarily secured the pole to maintain service and proper line clearances in the backyard and give the customer enough time to hire an electrician and get a permit. The customer knew this was a temporary fix and that it's his responsibility to get it permanently repaired," he said.

Owen says the situation would be the same if you lived in acity and a tree in yourbackyardfellon a power line, ripping out a pole in your back lane.

"As the homeowner, it's your responsibility to get it fixed," said Owen.

He said Manitoba Hydro would come to your home to disconnect the power, but the homeowner would have to get an arborist to remove the tree, and an electrician to reconnect the lines to the pole.

"Once that's done, it has to be checked by an electrical inspector. Once the inspector gives the OK, Manitoba Hydro comes back and reconnects the line to the pole to restore power to your house," said Owen.

Philion says the pole was already on theproperty when he and his wife moved into their home in 2006. In 2008, Manitoba Hydro sent someoneto drillholes in the bottom of itto fill it with fungicide. He believes that work is what compromised the stability of the pole, because that's where it snapped after the tree fell on the wires last week.

Owen says thework was part of the utility'sintegrated pole maintenance program, in which wood poles are checked for premature rot, insect infestation or other damage.

Philion says he was told the work willcost $2,000. He's already sold his children's outdoor play structure to try and come up with the money to pay for it.

"I just want my yard to be safe."

Manitoba Hydro won't fix broken and unsafe pole

4 years ago

Duration 1:51

A man in a rural Manitoba community says the province's power and gas utility won't repair a broken hydro pole in his backyard, and has given him a week to fix it or his power will be shut off.