SaskPower’s is making improvements south of Midale through their Rural Rebuild Program. Work began three weeks ago to replace ten kilometres of line and around 130 power poles.
Spokesperson for SaskPower, Joel Cherry, says this will improve service and reliability for customers in the area.
“The reason for that is the line is aging, it's reached the end of its useful life, and so we're replacing that line in order to improve reliability for all of our customers in the area, and reduce the amount of unplanned outages that we have.”
\The work being done near Midale is only part of the rural projects scheduled for the upcoming year.
“This is part of $46 million of work that we're planning on rural rebuild projects during the 2025-2026 fiscal year, so that's the period beginning April 1st this year.”
Alongside efficiency, the changes will also improve safety for SaskPower employees conducting maintenance, as well as area farmers. The new poles no longer pass through agricultural fields, instead, they now stand along the road allowance.
“Harvest is ongoing right now, and line contacts are a serious concern. I know we always encourage farmers to take great care while they're doing their work, but when we replace a line like this by moving it into the road allowance, it also helps to increase safety as well.”
The work will be completed by late September or October, and Cherry assures that it will be completed with minimal service interruptions for local customers. However, the end of the project will see a brief planned outage for eight customers as they cut the line into the SaskPower system.
He encourages SaskPower customers to reference their website for information on upcoming planned outages,
“For any upcoming planned outages, you can find information on our website at SaskPower.com/outages, where we have a list of planned outages for necessary maintenance. We also have our outage map there that shows both planned and unplanned outage information."