BC Hydro, Fortis offering bill credits for West Kelowna evacuees

BC Hydro crews are helping with the extensive restoration work needed in West Kelowna as the community begins the process of recovery after the McDougall Creek wildfire,

A full damage assessment has been completed and about 27 km of power lines, 346 poles and 66 pieces of equipment will need to be replaced.

Over the past week, crews have also been helping remove damaged equipment, debris and clearing vegetation.

On Saturday, a crew of 35 workers were in West Kelowna carrying out restoration work and by Monday there will be 85 workers on the ground.

So far, power has been restored to about 600 customers, but it is still too early to say when power will be restored to the remaining 600 people.

“Going forward, BC Hydro will be prioritizing restoring power to critical infrastructure like water and wastewater plants, medical facilities and communications sites,” a release says.

“Crews will also be looking for ways to get the largest number of customers restored as safely and quickly as possible.”

Credits offer for gas, electricity

Residential and commercial customers who are affected by an evacuation order are eligible to receive a credit for the electricity consumed for the duration of the time they’re out of their home, if the order is for five days or longer.

FortisBC is also providing bill credits for customers for the time that they are evacuated.

“To make the billing relief process simple, FortisBC will automatically apply the credit by cross-referencing billing data with evacuation information from municipalities, First Nations band councils, the provincial government, and its operations team,” says a release.