How Alberta households can prepare for outages from deep cold, blizzards, wildfire and summer storms, with the official alert and outage tools to use.
- Install Alberta Emergency Alert and know who owns the wires in your area, since that company may differ from your billing company.
- Winter cold is the biggest risk: gas furnaces need power, so plan a warm room and never heat with fuel burning devices indoors.
- Keep a 72-hour kit and a half-full vehicle tank year round.
Alberta outages tend to come from a short list of causes: deep winter cold that strains heating and equipment, blizzards and heavy snow, wildfire, and summer thunderstorms with high wind, hail or tornadoes. Each one asks for a slightly different plan, but the core kit is the same, and most of it costs little.
This guide covers the alert tools the province points people to, how to find out who to call about an outage, and what to do before the next one so a night without power is an inconvenience and not an emergency.
Know your alert tools before you need them
Alberta Emergency Alert is the province's official alerting system. It lists active alerts, uses two levels (Critical, meaning take action now, and Advisory, meaning prepare to take action), and can reach you through a mobile app, an RSS feed and social media accounts. Install the app and check that notifications are allowed. Canada's national Alert Ready system also pushes urgent alerts to compatible phones, television and radio. The province's own power outage page also points to the WeatherCan app and to grid alerts from the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO).
A battery or hand-crank radio is still the best backup when cell service is overloaded. See our alerts and outage reporting guide and the radio guide for what to look for.
Find the right outage contact
In Alberta the company that owns the poles and wires in your area is not always the company that sends your bill. In larger cities and many rural areas the wire owner is a different business, so look at your bill or your utility's website now and bookmark the outage map and phone number for the wire owner. Write that number on paper and keep it in your kit.
During widespread outages the province also asks people to avoid heavy electricity use at peak times. Its power outage page lists 5 pm to 9:30 pm in summer and 4 pm to 7 pm in winter as the peak windows, so shift laundry, dishwashing and other big loads outside them when you can.
Winter cold: the main Alberta risk
A winter outage is the one that can turn dangerous fastest, because indoor temperatures fall quickly when it is -30 C (-22 F) outside. Gas furnaces still need electricity for the blower and controls, so a gas furnace does not keep working through an outage. Our guide on keeping a furnace running covers safe options.
- Pick one room to live in, close the doors, and hang blankets over windows at night.
- Dress in layers, wear a hat indoors and use sleeping bags rated for cold.
- Know how to shut off and drain your water lines if the house will be unheated for a long time.
- Never use a barbecue, camp stove, generator or fuel heater indoors or in an attached garage. Carbon monoxide is odourless and deadly.
More detail is in how to stay warm without power and the winter storm prep checklist.
Wildfire and summer storm season
Wildfire can cut power lines and force evacuations with little warning. Keep a go-bag by the door, know two ways out of your area and keep phones charged. Smoke can also make staying put unsafe even if power is on. Read wildfire smoke and evacuation during an outage for the details.
Summer storms bring high winds and tornadoes. If a tornado warning is issued, move to the lowest interior room away from windows. After a storm, treat any downed line as live and stay at least 10 metres (33 feet) away.
A 72-hour kit that fits Alberta
The province recommends enough supplies for 72 hours, including about 4 litres (1 gallon) of water per person per day, food that needs no cooking, cash, battery or hand-powered devices, and backup power for medical equipment. Add warm clothing, a first aid kit, medications and pet supplies.
- Water: use our water storage guide to size your supply.
- Light: headlamps are safer than candles, see headlamps and lanterns.
- Power: a small battery station can keep phones, a radio and a CPAP running. Start from the outage planner and power station hub.
- Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms should have working backup batteries.
Finish with the 72-hour checklist and check your gaps with the readiness score.
Quick answers
Does a gas furnace work in a power outage?
Usually not. The blower and controls need electricity, so plan another safe way to stay warm and never use a generator or fuel heater indoors.
Where do I get official Alberta alerts?
Alberta Emergency Alert, through its app, RSS feed and social media, plus national Alert Ready messages on compatible phones, TV and radio.