Lunenburg Mayor Jamie Myra has publicly condemned residents who confronted Nova Scotia Power employees during a major outage on Feb. 8. A utility pole fire that morning left homes and businesses from Lunenburg to nearby communities without electricity for much of the day.
Details of the Outage and Confrontations
Most customers regained power by Saturday evening. However, those in the South Stonehurst area learned technicians could not complete repairs until Sunday morning due to a 16-hour work limit. Residents grew agitated, shining lights at linemen on poles, yelling profanities, and creating an unsafe environment.
“People got very vocal, hateful and disrespectful,” Myra stated. He raised the issue at the start of a recent town council meeting, calling the behavior unacceptable. Nova Scotia Power staff warned that future incidents could force crews to leave sites mid-outage.
Mayor’s Call for Better Community Behavior
Myra emphasized that repair workers do not control operations or infrastructure decisions. Many live locally and respond to help neighbors despite leaving their own homes. “We have to be better. We’re known for our compassion, friendliness, and kindness here in this area,” he said.
Resident Frustrations with Reliability
Some Lunenburg residents report frequent outages, especially during storms or high winds. Anke Holm, a 15-year resident, anticipates power loss in such conditions. She links rising tensions province-wide to billing disputes and proposed rate increases but insists it offers no justification for mistreating field workers.
“The workers are the last in the row and these poor guys go out in the worst conditions. I’m not envying them,” Holm said.
Nova Scotia Power’s Response
A spokesperson noted, “This isn’t the first time our crews have faced challenging interactions in the field, including negative comments.” The utility declined a formal interview request.
Lunenburg’s Grid Upgrade Plans
As one of four Nova Scotia municipalities with its own power utility, Lunenburg announced a five-year, $20 million capital plan last year. The investment aims to double grid capacity and prevent similar outages. Limited capacity contributed to the delayed full restoration after the fire, as switching everything on at once risked shortages.
