Toronto Hydro power outage sends thousands into darkness

A midday power outage plunged thousands of Toronto residents and office workers into darkness on Wednesday, with a large swath of the Entertainment District, Financial District, Harbourfront and other overlapping areas of the downtown core without electricity as of about 1:30 p.m.

Toronto Hydro is reporting that 5,000+ customers remain impacted by the interruption at the time of publication, with an outage map delineating a large rectangle that spans from just west of Bathurst to Yonge Street in the east, and from Queen Street south to Bremner and Fort York Boulevards — a pocket dense with both condos and commercial towers.

Toronto Hydro's outage map as of 3 p.m. Wednesday.

The utility provider wrote shortly before 2 p.m. that it had dispatched staff to the John Transmission Station to look into the problem, and is working with Hydro One "to restore power as safely and quickly as possible."

With crews currently on site, Toronto Hydro is estimating a restoration time of 5:28 p.m.

But, based on past outages, this timeline is likely to be extended, and is only approximate based on historical data.

We’re currently responding to an outage due to a loss of supply affecting the Financial District. We’re working with @HydroOne to restore power, and appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding. https://t.co/zm5SALn3D1

— Toronto Hydro (@TorontoHydro) February 5, 2025

Thus far, cloud computing company Linode and OCAD University (for its 230 Richmond Street West campus) are among the organizations that have had their operations affected, while parts of the PATH network and multiple office towers — including First Canadian Place, TD Centre, Commerce Court and Scotia Plaza — are likewise lights out.

Some have been evacuated for safety, while others are allegedly running off of emergency power supplies, based on accounts on social media.

This is a developing story.