In recent months, a number of municipalities in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges region, including Saint-Zotique, Les Coteaux and Coteau-du-Lac, have contacted Hydro-Québec in connection with frequent power outages on their respective territories. In Rivière-Beaudette, the municipality's incessant requests to the Société d'État prompted the latter to rebuild the Saint-Polycarpe substation. 

More specifically, Les Coteaux asked Hydro-Québec to carry out an analysis of the electricity distribution infrastructures supplying Les Coteaux and to provide a detailed report.

Most recently, the locality obtained answers from the Société d'État concerning the quality of electricity service on its territory, in response to municipal resolution 24-12-8886 adopted in December 2024.

Hydro-Québec reports that 2024 saw a significant reduction in outages. “In fact, residents of Les Coteaux experienced the fewest outages and triggers in the last five years. On average, residents experienced less than 53 minutes of outages during normal operating times, according to information provided by Hydro-Québec. When major weather events are taken into account, this figure rises to around 3 hours,” reads the response sent to the municipal administration.  

This is a clear improvement on 2023, a year in which a number of weather-related events caused numerous power outages, totaling nearly 63 hours of outages for our territory, we continued. 

Hydro-Québec also pointed out that, to improve system reliability, ongoing investments are planned. “These include maintenance, vegetation control and adaptation to climate change. These efforts are aimed at preventing outages and strengthening the network's resilience to extreme weather events.”  

Reporting outages and problems

Finally, Hydro-Québec would like to remind residents that they can report any service quality problems directly to their customer service department, either by telephone at 514 385-7252, or via their website.

The Municipality of Les Coteaux is attentive to the concerns of its residents, and will continue to monitor the situation to keep them informed of actions taken to guarantee the quality of electricity service on the territory.  

Incessant requests 

In Rivière-Beaudette, incessant requests from the municipal administration, in connection with frequent outages, prompted Hydro-Québec to rebuild the power substation serving the locality, the Saint-Polycarpe substation. For ten years, Rivière-Beaudette has been making repeated representations to Hydro-Québec. 

“If the MRC is able to predict the population growth the region will face in ten years' time, Hydro-Québec was unable to do so. For ten years, outages were frequent on our territory, but since the overhaul of the Saint-Polycarpe substation, things are much better. It's night and day. We hardly ever run out of electricity, except on rare occasions, and when that happens, we understand it without a problem. Now, we'd like to see better control of vegetation on our territory, but in terms of electrical availability and network reliability since the overhaul of the Saint-Polycarpe substation, things are a lot better,” says Mayor Patrick Bousez, who says he's wholeheartedly behind the Municipalité des Coteaux in this matter. 

For some time now, a single power line has served the Alta industrial park in Coteau-du-Lac, pending the opening of a new substation at its heart, whose primary mission will be to supply power to the park. 

“I'm confident that when it comes on stream in a few years' time, it will take the load off the Saint-Polycarpe substation, which has already reached its maximum capacity, despite the fact that it's new. It won't be a problem once it's up and running,” he adds. 

The City of Coteau-du-Lac is confident 

For its part, Coteau-du-Lac confirms that it will not be taking any steps to request an analysis of the electrical network supplying the town of Coteau-du-Lac. However, last autumn, the municipal administration did ask Hydro to maintain the vegetation that comes significantly close to the lines in certain places, but there has been no specific request on this subject.

“We are aware that the construction of the new substation in our industrial park will considerably strengthen the Town's power supply,” we wrote by e-mail. 

Saint-Zotique, a forerunner in the field 

By e-mail, Ville de Saint-Zotique states that it is a forerunner in this field. “We have already, on our own initiative, commissioned a private firm to produce a survey of the canopy in conflict with the hydroelectric network, covering the entire territory. This report was submitted to Hydro-Québec in the summer of 2023. The Ville de Saint-Zotique has even opened a file with Hydro-Québec for each of the properties affected,” we read.