Aging Infrastructure Reported by SaskPower as Being Source of Increased Outages in Regina

More power outages in the Regina as of late are due to aging equipment according to SaskPower.

Spokeswoman Heather Johnson acknowledged Regina has had its fair share of outages this summer and that we can expect an increase in outages over time.

Forty-one per cent of SaskPower’s unplanned outages are caused by aging infrastructure, Johnson said.

Some recent outages in Regina relate to a SaskPower substation in Albert Park. Johnson said the station was brought back online last week after undergoing upgrades since February. During that time, other substations had to serve more people.

Johnson said, for example, this may explain why outages in Lakeview affected Harbour Landing.

“Hopefully the upgrade work that is done (at Albert Park) will help lessen the impact, will affect fewer people and hopefully (outages will) not last as long,” she said.

A common reason in Regina is an issue called underground cable fault, which Johnson explained is due to shifting ground. Other reasons for outages include weather, vehicle accidents, wildlife and vegetation.

Johnson also noted the rate at which the province is growing also has an interesting impact.

“Not only are we going to have to fix the things that are aging, we are going to have to be able to sustain all the growth that is happening in the province as well,” she said. Johnson said the answer will come from SaskPower balancing and prioritizing resources to handle the population growth.

Johnson agreed that nobody likes power outages.

“(SaskPower employees) live in Regina too. Our power goes out, it’s directly inconvenient, nobody likes it and our guys have to go directly out and fix it. So, we are definitely putting in the time and money this year to hopefully help Regina out in that regard,” she said.

In 2015, the Crown corporation has planned for $33 million in maintenance and upgrades for the Regina area. The total investment for Regina in 2014-2015 will be more than $50 million.

“We are definitely finding we need to focus spending our money on infrastructure investments more than we have before,” Johnson said.

She also highlighted SaskPower’s capital budget over the long term will be $1 billion per year to maintain and improve its system.

One misconception that Johnson believes the public has is SaskPower’s ability to know when and where power goes out.

“We need the customer to call in their outages. And the more calls we get, the better sense we can get of where this outage is, where it’s located, who is impacted,” said Johnson.

“Every outage is different, it’s never a dull day,” said Johnson about the number of complaints SaskPower receives.

If you are experiencing an outage, call SaskPower at 306-310-2220 or report online at www.saskpower.com

Originally written for the Regina Leader-Post http://www.leaderpost.com/ by pkreutzwieser@leaderpost.com