SaskPower is resuming its annual maintenance program this month, focusing on inspection and upkeep of more than 120,000 wooden power poles across the province, along with thousands of transformers and wildfire protection installations. The utility says the work is part of a broader effort to extend the life of aging infrastructure, improve reliability, and reduce the risk of outages and costly emergency replacements.
During the program, SaskPower crews will inspect poles, crossarms, anchoring cables, and related hardware for signs of damage, decay, and carpenter ant infestation. Where needed, the company says the equipment will be marked for reinforcement, repair, or replacement. The maintenance effort is designed to identify issues early before they develop into larger service problems.
SaskPower President and CEO Rupen Pandya said regular inspection and maintenance can significantly increase the lifespan of wood power poles and lower long-term costs. He said maintaining a pole costs less than $65, while replacing one costs about $5,000. The utility says the annual program helps manage the more than 1.2 million wooden power poles currently in service.
In addition to pole inspections, crews will carry out ground grid testing on 9,000 rural overhead transformers. SaskPower says this testing is intended to support safe and reliable operation of the equipment. The utility will also install wildfire protection on 600 to 800 poles in higher-risk northern areas as part of its fire mitigation work. That measure is meant to reduce the potential for fire-related outages and improve resilience in vulnerable regions.
SaskPower said the maintenance work should not require power outages. The company also said crews will stay within its right-of-way as much as possible, limiting the need to access private property. The utility’s approach is aimed at minimizing disruption for customers while ongoing inspections and upgrades are completed.
The annual maintenance program is a routine but important part of SaskPower’s infrastructure management strategy. By checking poles and other equipment before visible failures occur, the utility aims to preserve service reliability, reduce emergency repair costs, and protect against weather- and fire-related risks.
