More than 1.2 million wood power poles are installed throughout Saskatchewan. Starting this month, SaskPower crews will inspect more than 123,000 wood power poles as part of its annual maintenance program.

“Wood poles and transformers are the backbone of SaskPower’s distribution system, and regular maintenance is a cost-effective way to ensure Saskatchewan’s economy and communities have the safe, reliable power they need to grow and thrive,” said Jeremy Harrison, Minister Responsible for SaskPower.

Crews will examine poles, crossarms, anchoring cables and other hardware for signs of damage, decay and/or carpenter ant infestation while completing maintenance activities to extend the life of the poles. Any pole that cannot be repaired or reinforced will be marked for replacement.

“Regular inspection and maintenance of wood power poles can double a pole’s lifespan and provide significant cost savings – maintaining a pole costs less than $65, whereas replacing one costs about $5,000” said Rupen Pandya, SaskPower President and CEO.

Crews will also perform ground grid testing on 9,000 rural overhead transformers and install wildfire protection on 600-800 poles in higher-risk northern regions, which will help to mitigate fire-related outages.

No power outages are necessary for this work. Crews will stay within the SaskPower right-of-way as much as possible, but workers may occasionally need access to private property.

The inspection schedule is as follows (dates subject to change):

Wood pole inspections

• Moosomin –  Early July to end August
• Davidson – Mid May to early July
• Weyburn – Mid May to early July
• Wynyard – Early Aug to end Oct
• Unity – Early July to early Aug
• Shellbrook – Early June to early July
• Rosthern – Mid May to early June

Overhead transformer testing

• Strasbourg – Early June to late June
• Shaunavon – Mid May to early July
• Saskatoon RW – Mid May to mid June
• Assiniboia – Late June to early Aug
• Lloydminster – Late June to mid July
• Melville – late May to early June

Learn more at saskpower.com/woodpoles.

At a glance...

• SaskPower is inspecting more than 123,000 wood power poles this year
• Crews will also test 9,000 overhead transformers and install wildfire protection on poles in high-risk areas
• Inspections begin in May and continue through October
• Learn more at saskpower.com/woodpoles