'don’t turn the power on all at once' after long outage, hydro-québec tells côte-st-luc-area residents
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françois wermenlinger runs the water in his sink to prevent pipes from freezing as the temperature in his n.d.g. home falls during a large power outage in the côte-st-luc area on sunday, january 25, 2026.
allen mcinnis
/
montreal gazette
for updates to the hydro outages and weather warnings monday, please tap here.
a hydro-québec spokesperson said on sunday that a “great majority” of montreal-area residents who lost power on would have it restored by the end of the day — but some will have to wait until monday morning.
an equipment failure at the hampstead power substation caused an outage that initially affected more than 13,000 addresses in the montreal area, including parts of notre-dame-de-grâce and montreal west in addition to côte-st-luc, according to hydro-québec’s outage map.
by monday morning, around 5,300 homes were still affected across montreal.
hydro-québec spokesperson louis-olivier batty said seven generators were being installed, with three having been installed by noon. “we have to go gradually,” he said, because trying to re-establish electricity all at once could result in further power failures.
at one point on sunday morning, there was “a risk of fire” in the hampstead substation, but there was none, batty said. the montreal fire department said it received no calls about a fire at the substation.
overall in the montreal area at 1 a.m. sunday, there were 18,400 affected customers. by 1 p.m. sunday, as power was slowly being restored, the figure was down to 9,030 and by 8 p.m., it was 7,460.
“last night and this morning, we were able to restore service for many customers, and we will continue to do so gradually,” hydro-québec said in an online statement. “unfortunately, full recovery may take until monday. we are fully aware of the impacts this outage is having on our customers in the context of extreme cold.”
it was too early sunday to tell whether the equipment failure was due to the cold, batty said, adding the utility’s priority is to restore power before determining what caused the outage. meanwhile, he issued a request to hydro customers.
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“we are asking customers to help us,” he said. “when the electricity comes back, don’t turn the power on all at once in different rooms. increase the heat room by room. using only the rooms you need will help us gradually restore.”
an emergency shelter at the côte-des-neiges community centre (5347 côte-des-neiges rd.) was opened saturday evening for residents unable to remain safely in their homes, part of an agreement between côte-st-luc and the canadian red cross.
operated by the red cross, the shelter was to remain open overnight again sunday for côte-st-luc residents, the city announced late sunday afternoon. residents needing to spend the night in the shelter were asked to call the côte-st-luc aquatic and community centre (514-485-6806) for the city to arrange free transportation.
in an instagram post sunday morning from the aquatic centre, côte-st-luc mayor david tordjman encouraged residents whose homes were without power to come to the centre, which opened at 5:30 a.m. and was to remain open until the building closed at 10 p.m.
“it’s a great place to warm up,” he said, adding coffee and food were being provided.
tordjman said door-to-door visits and phone calls were being made to seniors and other vulnerable residents.
earlier sunday, as the power outage entered its second day amid frigid temperatures, he said in a post on instagram that “we are not getting the answers we need” from hydro-québec. in a subsequent post, he reported on having heard from hydro about the generators being installed.
at the peak of the outage, more than 41,000 hydro customers throughout quebec were without power. by midday sunday, the figure was down to 14,000 and by 8 p.m., it was 11,057.
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