Many Businesses Suffer Due to Calgary Power Outage

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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One of the most prolonged power outages in Calgary’s downtown core has reached into its fourth day while many downtown business owners feel pressured for having their establishment closed for the duration. Approximately 1,000 businesses remained closed in the downtown core due to the power outage that was caused by an underground explosion and fire on Saturday.

The owner of Jalapeno’s Mexican Grill on 4 Avenue S.W., Douglas Hernandez, shared to have had experienced a similar long closure earlier at the time of June 2013’s flood. Hence, Hernandez estimated that the power outage has cost him at least $5,000 in lost revenue and spoiled goods. Furthermore, he stressed that in “downtown, you depend on the corporate crowd to come into your business. If you don’t have a corporate crowd, we have no business whatsoever and it’s tough. It’s tough.” Although ENMAX has vowed a number of times that it aims to restore power till midday Thursday, Hernandez claims that he and many other owners will still need another day to prepare their locations before they could open for public.

Whereas on the other hand, an insurance broker, Lee Rogers, speculates that business interruption service would cover some of the losses caused by the outage, but not every type of company has that type of coverage. Rogers explained that “things like off premises power outages, civil authority, extra expense, contingent business interruption coverage and those are all extensions that can be bought in conjunction with buying business interruption itself.”