Islanders urged to conserve electricity for 3rd night as P.E.I.’s power supply stays unstable [Video]

Residents of Prince Edward Island are still being urged to conserve power as electricity instability on the Island stretches into a third day.

While the City of Summerside is warning residents to prepare for rolling blackouts Wednesday evening, Maritime Electric CEO Jason Roberts said he does not think that will be necessary. 

“Conservation, conservation, conservation. That’s really key to us right now,” Roberts said.  

Residential and business customers across the province are being asked to:

• Turn off unnecessary lights.
• Unplug electronics, appliances or power bars that aren’t being used.
• Not use large appliances like dishwashers, ovens or dryers.
• Shift non-essential tasks like laundry to non-peak hours.

The trouble began early Monday morning, when a major outage across western P.E.I. left more than 19,000 customers without electricity due to damage at Maritime Electric’s Sherbrooke substation, north of Summerside. Power was restored by midday, but the Island’s power supply has remained unstable — particularly for P.E.I.’s second-largest city.

Summerside generates much of its own electricity but also pays New Brunswick Power for any …