A program to bury power lines in Saskatchewan farmyards was so popular last year that it went over budget and still has a lengthy waiting list.
Mike Mamona, SaskPower’s construction supervisor of field services, said 199 names were on the waiting list for the first-come, first-paid program as of Dec. 31.
“It tells me that they’re serious about it,” he said of the requirement to pay up front.
SaskPower pays 75 percent of the Farmyard Power Line Relocation Program and the farm owner pays 25 percent to a maximum of $2,000.
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The cost to bury overhead power lines in an average yard is $8,000 and $10,000.
Mamona said spending more than the $2.5 million budget was “something I had to explain.”
Explaining the demand is easier.
Applications came from across the province, he said, but areas showing greater interest were near Yorkton, Moosomin, Kindersley and Prince Albert.
To be eligible, farm customers must be on the E34 rate structure. Acreage owners are on a different rate and qualify for a 50-50 cost share.
SaskPower will provide a formal quote upon application.
In eligible farmyards, the overhead primary line will be installed underground and the existing overhead transformer pole will be replaced with a pad-mount transformer. The pole can be left standing if the owner wants.
SaskPower uses contractors to do the work. Homeowners are responsible to bury private power lines.
Mamona said there are two reasons the program is so popular.
“I think the farming community is a lot more conscious about overhead power lines,” he said. “The other is aesthetics, to clean up their farmyards.”
Although underground lines are safer from a contact point of view, there are trade-offs.
It may be more difficult for workers to find the cause of a power outage if the line is underground, they might have to dig up the line to find the problem.
While the farmyard program is customer-driven, SaskPower is driving another initiative.
The crown corporation plans to rebuild the existing overhead rural electrical distribution system and move overhead lines in farmers’ fields to underground lines in road allowances.
The oldest lines and those with the highest loads will be changed first.
Mamona said five pilot projects last year were successful.
They were in the Kindersley-Kerrobert, Davidson, Melfort and Tisdale areas where the lines would have been the first to be replaced under a fully implemented program.
Data gathered from the pilot projects will help SaskPower develop a long-term plan for replacing the lines.
The annual budget is $12.5 million.
“It’s a huge undertaking,” Mamona said. “We think this will go on for years.”
The project falls into the ‘don’t call us, we’ll call you” category. SaskPower will notify landowners when the work is to be done in their fields.
Southwestern Saskatchewan, which suffered lengthy power outages after a recent blizzard, will be among the last areas to be done because the load is light, Mamona said.
The new lines will provide greater reliability, he added, but it won’t necessarily deter storm damage.
“A tornado can pull out a new line as well as an old line,” he said.
