Image Credit: Curtis Goodrum / CFJC Today

By Curtis Goodrum

POWER OUTAGES

BC Hydro says recent power outages in Kamloops-area caused by multitude of factors

Jun 23, 2025 | 10:05 AM

KAMLOOPS — BC Hydro says its looking into the issues and working on solutions after a recent string of large power outages in Kamloops, that affected the Aberdeen and Pineview area in particular

“We have been seeing quite a few outages in the Kamloops area. The reality is that we have 80,000 kilometres of power lines in this province. Inevitably, we’re going to run into problems with them,” BC Hydro spokesperson Susan Edgell said.

“Whether that be extreme heat, extreme cold or extreme wind or vehicles hitting our power lines, and trees coming down on our lines.”

Thousands of BC Hydro customers in Aberdeen, Dufferin, Sahali, as well as along Lac Le Jeune Road and areas west towards Cherry Creek were without power for about four hours last Saturday (June 14).

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Some of them were also in the dark for about four hours on Sunday (June 8), as well as for about six hours on April 24 and another four hours on April 25. BC Hydro said equipment failure was to blame for all of those outages.

Another large outage that BC Hydro said was due to a cable fault as the mercury soared affected thousands of people around Thompson Rivers University and the City’s West End, as well as a large section of the Tranquille corridor on the North Shore on June

Elsewhere, thousands of BC Hydro customers in the Thompson/Shuswap were without power – some were in the dark overnight – after a strong windstorm that made its way across the Southern Interior at the end of May.

“We have crews right now that are looking into ways to reconfigure our circuits in the Kamloops area to minimize the number of customers who are affected when these outages occur,” Edgell added.

“Can I guarantee there won’t be any more outages as we move into the hotter weather? Absolutely not.”

Most, if not all, of these recent outages have been happening in the evening. If the power does go out, BC Hydro says to be patient.

“When the power goes out, you have to get creative,” Edgell said. “Having some flashlights on hand, some candles and have some patience. Our crews are working as hard as they can and as safely as they need to to get the power on.”

BC Hydro crews are on 24-hour standby seven days a week, meaning if there is a power outage, Edgell said they respond as quickly as they can.

As of publishing, there are no large power outages in the Kamloops-area, and updates on any that might occur can be found here.

– With files from Victor Kaisar/CFJC Today