Clocks in northwest B.C. run fast during power switch

Some clocks in northwest British Columbia have been running 15 to 20 minutes fast after a planned B.C. Hydro outage on a transmission line between Aug. 28 and Aug. 31. B.C. Hydro says the outage put customers west of Prince George, including Vanderhoof, Burns Lake and Smithers, into an “electrical island” supplied by a backup generating station near Kitimat. That station operates at a slightly different frequency, which can make some pluggedin clocks and other devices run faster than usual. The utility says the issue has affected the region for years, but it is usually only by a few seconds or minutes. The difference became more noticeable this time because the backup supply runs at 60.3 Hz, compared with B.C. Hydro’s standard 60 Hz.