Saskatchewan City mistake could cost home insurers

A Saskatoon City error that affected 27 houses wrecked appliances and cut power. One option for householders may be turning to their own insurer according to one city official

Property

By Libby MacDonald

Brokers in Saskatchewan mayl be hearing from customers this week after a blunder by Saskatoon Light & Power left 27 houses with wrecked appliances and no power for hours last Tuesday.

According to director of Saskatoon Light & Power, Trevor Bell, those affected can either deal with the city directly ” or “go through their home insurance.”

Among the items affected, and possibly needing repair or replacement are furnaces and other major appliances, including fridges, stoves, microwaves, and garage door openers.

City crews were upgrading a transformer, when says Bell, “we installed the wrong transformer which provided a higher voltage than normal to the residence.” Bell says this is an unusual even that has not happened in many years.

"We weren't aware of that until we had actually energized the line and quickly realized that there was a problem so we turned everything off, de-energized it and then we started dealing with customers one-on-one to get their power back up again."

"We really sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this is causing customers," he said.

"Unfortunately, we can't undo what's happened but we are looking into what caused that and trying to find out how to improve our process in the future so it doesn't happen again."
 

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