Bluewater Power is reporting an alarming increase in the number of vehicles hitting poles this year.
CEO Janice McMichael-Dennis says that includes hydro poles, street light poles and traffic poles.
"For 2017, we're not even quite halfway through the year and we've had 25 vehicle pole accidents thus far this year," says McMichael-Dennis. "To put that in perspective, in all of 2016 we had 14. We're halfway through the year and almost double a full years impact of 2016."
She says the main concern is public safety.
"These accidents pose a concern to public safety," she says. "They also pose a safety concern to our own crews."
McMichael-Dennis says the costs associated with these collisions vary.
"The specific damages depend on how hard the infrastructure was hit. What's the impact. It also depends what it was holding in the air and the downstream impact of that infrastructure," she says. "Overall, every pole accident can cost between $5,000 and $50,000. Electricity infrastructure is not inexpensive."
She says most of the damages are billed through to insurance companies.
This past weekend, Bluewater Power crews were called to replace a hydro pole that snapped at its base when a vehicle struck it Saturday morning on St. Clair St.