What is load shedding? And why is it helpful?

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Due to the extreme cold temperatures in parts of Nova Scotia causing significant demand for energy on the system, short temporary power outages may take place across the province.

This controlled process is sometimes referred to as “load shedding”; a necessary step to protect the system and to continue to provide a level of power service to all customers in all regions. These temporary outages may occur for approximately 30 minutes at a time.

Load shedding is a last resort measure used by utilities across North America. Customers are first asked to conserve energy and shift their energy consumption away from peak times before the need for load shedding. If, like this weekend, electricity demand does become higher than the available supply, load shedding becomes necessary to protect the system. In this case, certain customers (mainly in higher density areas like towns and cities) will be temporarily disconnected for short periods of time.

By safely and carefully disconnecting power to one area and then another, we can limit demand and protect the system from overloading. Shorter outages will ensure that homes don’t cool down too much, avoiding overload issues on the system when power is brought back on.

Load shedding is not the same as localized outages that may also occur during extreme cold temperatures. Although the experience for customers is similar—short duration outages—localized outages happen when the feeder in a specific area is reaching capacity and an outage is required in that community to balance the energy demand. Load shedding only happens when feeders in multiple communities are in the same situation and we have to balance power across the province.

In anticipation of this weekend’s temperatures and windchill, our teams made sure our power plants would be able to produce as much electricity as possible. Depending on wind levels in the province, there may be significantly less wind generation, meaning much less energy available on the grid. However, our two new grid-scale battery sites are in operation, and we have also been working with our neighbouring utilities to support each other's customers wherever we can, which is common practice when it comes to imports and resources. Currently, all generation in the province is running at maximum capacity to provide power for our customers.

We are asking customer to please continue to conserve energy wherever possible. This includes things like: 

  • Avoid using large appliances such as dishwashers, ovens, and clothes washers and dryers, especially during peak demand hours (7–⁠11 AM and 5–9 PM).
  • Cook with small appliances like the microwave, air fryer, or toaster oven.
  • Shift non-essential activities, like laundry, to times when power demand is lower (midnight–7 AM, 11 AM–5 PM, and 9 PM–midnight).
  • Charge electric vehicles overnight.
  • If you have an electric water heater, limit the use of hot water as much as possible.
  • Turn off all unnecessary lights and unplug any electronics or appliances not in use.
Visit here to learn more about how extreme cold temperatures affect the grid and how to be prepared. 

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