September 30, 2016 – SaskPower is upgrading portions of the grid in the west central area of Saskatchewan, including: North Battleford, Lloydminster, Onion Lake, Paradise Hill, St. Walburg, Turtle Lake, Glaslyn, Biggar, Kerrobert, Unity and Macklin as well as the surrounding areas.

“SaskPower is facing an ongoing power challenge,” said Tim Eckel, vice-president of Transmission Services. “As the demand for power continues to grow, we not only need to build the grid, but we need to maintain our existing assets, including our power poles, transformers and stations. We’re investing approximately $1 billion dollars annually”.

So far in 2016, residential and commercial customers in the areas listed above have made 300 new connection or reconstruction requests, Eckel added, nothing this was additional work on top of SaskPower’s $110 million regional investment.

SaskPower’s regional work includes building new stations, worth approximately $100 million, that deliver power to customers around Rutland, Edam, Superb and Golden Lake. Some post-construction work continues to connect these assets to the system, which is expected to be complete in early 2017.
Part of this investment also includes over $10 million in system maintenance for the North Battleford and Lloydminster areas. This includes upgrading or replacing power stations, inspecting and repairing wood poles and upgrading or replacing electrical devices that protect the system’s powerlines.

Eckel noted that some major construction projects require planned power outages but customers will be notified in advance. The outages are also listed on saskpower.com and on Twitter.