Businesses hit by multiple hours long power outages
Those in Sun Peaks on Dec. 31 will have a story to share for years after one of the biggest storms in recent years slammed the area.
The power was out across the B.C. Interior for much of the day and first went out in Sun Peaks for about four hours in the afternoon. Despite service returning for a period of time it went down again around 5:30 p.m. and wasn’t restored until approximately 3 a.m. Jan. 1.
Businesses of all sizes are grieving the loss of a big night in the community.
Suzanne Duchesne, owner of Chez Joe Poutine, said she expected the day to be busy for them and other take out food restaurants.
“Young people without dinner reservations get pizza, poutine and burgers,” she said. “It’s a huge night, especially for the grab and go places.”
With the loss of power they were unable to serve guests for most of the day, something she expects cost them up to $3000.
“It’s rough for us, but the places that really suffered would be Powder Hounds, Voyageur Bistro, Oya etc…it’s really rough.
“It sucks for the guests too, a lot of them have families and they just want to do something quick.”
At the other end of the village Kevin Tessier, owner of Voyageur Bistro, said they lost out on what would’ve been one of the biggest nights of the year.
Their five course dinner would’ve seen at least 120 people throughout the night. He and his team called it off when the power went out for a second time.
Tessier estimated a loss of around $10,000.
“And the staff loss in tips of three or four hundred dollars plus their wages,” he said. “It’s definitely a significant financial hit for us and the staff.”
He said he would like to see Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality consider investing in a generator which could power much of the village in situations like the one on New Year’s Eve.
At Bottom’s Bar & Grill owner Nathan Cross was also forced to cancel the night’s celebrations.
“The impact was our worst ever,” he said. “We had sold 175 New Year’s tickets. We refunded the majority but some people were very kind and we treated the ticket as a gift certificate in Bottom’s.”
Cross added on top of lost revenue from ticket sales and drinks they lost some food despite moving everything they could to their covered patio to keep it cool.
“Our cooks literally worked all night…My team really deserves all the credit for surviving it as best we could. They all worked extra hard to make sure the day wasn’t a complete catastrophe.”
With power restored and customer levels restored to normal, Cross said they’ve continued to work hard to catch up.
Sun Peaks Resort also cancelled the long standing traditions of the torchlight parade and First Flight Big Air Invitational due to the amount of snow.
While Sun Peaks’ lights have been back on since early on Jan. 1, some residents of Heffley Lake and Knouff Lake are still without power as of Jan. 3 with no crews assigned to do repairs yet. Some homes near Whitecroft lost power for over 50 hours.
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