Power restored to downtown Vancouver

For the first time since Monday morning, full power has been restored to downtown Vancouver.

B.C. Hydro crews flipped the final switches early Thursday morning, ending a power outage that began shortly after 9 a.m. on Monday when a fire in an underground electrical vault melted 14 major circuits.

Roughly 2,200 customers, ranging from single homes to entire hotels or skyscrapers, were blacked out and the final 100 users were reconnected overnight.

Vancouver businesses that lost customers and working hours due to a two-day blackout can forget about compensation.

B.C. Hydro president Bob Elton said Wednesday the corporation's liability is limited when it comes to outages and the company won't be paying business for any losses.

Elton said he understands people are frustrated and he commended the patience of those who have been in the dark for two days.

"If you look at the last several years, the Lower Mainland and the downtown core have had better reliability than anyone else in the province," Elton pointed out in a conference call with media.

"If you go back to California, Ontario, other examples of much more significant outages, indeed, again, no real precedent in terms of compensation."