PEIStrong winds and freezing cold temperatures created a number of weather woes for Islanders Friday. All public schools were closed for the day, and more than 18,000 Maritime Electric customers across the Island were without power, some for hours. Thousands of Islanders were without power Friday morningJenna Banfield · CBC News · Posted: Dec 05, 2025 5:51 PM EST | Last Updated: 5 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Winter weather woes: Cold temperatures, high winds on P.E.I. cause closures and power outagesP.E.I. was hit by strong winds and freezing cold temperatures Friday. The weather resulted in power outages for thousands of people, and public schools across the Island were closed. CBC’s Sheehan Desjardins reports. Strong winds and freezing cold temperatures created a number of weather woes for Islanders Friday. All public schools were closed for the day, and more than 18,000 Maritime Electric customers across the Island were without power, some for hours.Nash Alonto was one of them. He said he woke up to no power in his Stratford home — which meant his heater was off.”It was kind of really cold,” he said, “It was… a bit worrying for me.”Alonto said his power was out for about 10 to 20 minutes after that before coming back on.Nash Alonto said he woke to no power in his Stratford home on Friday morning. (Daniel Brown/CBC)Maritime Electric spokesperson Kim Griffin told CBC News it was a challenging morning for the utility’s crews.While the exact cause of each outage is still being confirmed, Griffin said trees on power lines and high winds were a factor.”I think what’s been really challenging for everyone is just such an unseasonable cold snap so quickly and I think that’s certainly what, you know, many of our technicians were saying today in addition to the outages,” she said.”We never want to see any of our customers without power — any time of the year but especially when it’s this cold.”Griffin told CBC News Friday’s outages were not related the rolling outages that Maritime Electric recently said they may enforce over the winter to protect P.E.I.’s power grid from a full shutdown in the event of large electricity demands. Looking to the winter months ahead, she said there is a possibility that Maritime Electric may ask customers to help conserve energy during peak hours, such as morning or supper time.Planning for seasonal impactsSummerside’s chief administrative officer, JP Desrosiers, said the city may make similar requests of its residents to help conserve energy. Demand for power in the province’s second largest city was up this week, he said. “People are using their electric heat sources in their homes,” Desrosiers said, “We’ve seen a 20 per cent increase just this week from Monday through to today, which again was anticipated once we saw the forecast of colder weather.”JP Desrosiers says Summerside saw a 20 per cent surge in demand for power this week as winter weather and cold temperatures hit the Island. (Zoom)Desrosiers adds that alongside power from Maritime Electric and its own renewable energy sources, the city has a few more resources that can be utilized during the cold season, including a battery system and diesel generators that will run as a last resort.”It’s a balancing act of trying to capitalize on what’s available to us,” Desrosiers said, “When we get into trickier situations where we’ve depleted our reserves in terms of battery energy, we may call upon our diesel generators to support that demand throughout the winter months.”The Town of Cornwall has its own plans for winter weather supports: a day program to help when school gets cancelled. Coun. Cory Stevenson, who chairs the town’s parks and recreation committee, said it gives parents a place for their children to go on a snow day, especially when they don’t have the option to stay home when school is cancelled. “We’re trying to create another opportunity for our residents, for parents and guardians to have a spot to take their children or child for a wonderful fun, safe day here in the town while they can still get to work and kind of proceed with a normal day-to-day life.”ABOUT THE AUTHORJenna Banfield is an associate producer for CBC Prince Edward Island. She can be reached at jenna.banfield@cbc.caWith files from Sheehan Desjardins
Freezing temperatures, high winds trigger closures and power outages on P.E.I.
