Planned outages turn lights out for thousands across province

WINNIPEG — Business owners in the East Beaches area of Lake Winnipeg hauled out generators Wednesday after a planned Manitoba Hydro outage left thousands of residents and cottagers without power.

Lise Bourassa, who runs several stores in Grand Beach, had to rent generators to accommodate the eight-hour blackout, which affected the area from Beaconia to Victoria Beach as well as Sagkeeng First Nation, while Hydro crews fixed a pole that was damaged by fire in May.

Despite the spare power source, she was only able to open one of her stores during the outage and said it came at a bad time.

“I understand the importance of what Manitoba Hydro is doing, the problem all the businesses in this area are having is that our season is very short and to be shut down for a full day has a fairly big impact, plus the added cost of getting generators,” she wrote in a message to the Winnipeg Free Press. “We also had less than one week to make arrangements, find electricians and generators to be able to keep all the food safe.”

To add to the inconvenience of the planned outage, on Monday night the freezer at one of her shops, Saffies General Store, went down and she had to throw out most of the store’s frozen inventory.

About 6,400 people in the area were without electricity from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. while Manitoba Hydro crews completed work on infrastructure, the Crown-owned utility said.

After the May fire, Hydro was able to restore power by making temporary repairs on a sub-transmission pole, but a permanent replacement was needed, Hydro spokesperson Peter Chura said.

Lanky’s Restaurant in Grand Beach kept its doors open throughout the outage, but manager Trish Koziuk said business was slower than usual.

Chura said more than 20 outages are planned across the province to allow crews to work safely on or around electrical equipment, including trimming trees around lines, regular maintenance and upgrades. In some cases, crews will return to sites that had been repaired temporarily during an emergency.

More than 7,000 residents are affected during the outages between Wednesday and Friday.

Chura could not provide a breakdown of all the planned outages across the province, but said customers will be advised several days in advance by telephone, text or email depending on what contact information is associated with their accounts. The utility will post advisories about larger planned outages to its social media channels.

RM of Victoria Beach Mayor Penny McMorris said while there is never a good time for a power outage, the rural municipality received a few days’ notice and was able to prepare for it.

About 1,342 customers in Cross Lake will be without power tonight from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., and 159 residents in Altona will be without electricity from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

An outage is planned for the Swan River area to make temporary repairs to infrastructure that was damaged during June’s flooding, which will leave 130 customers without electricity, Chura said. Several small outages in Winnipeg are scheduled for unlisted reasons, Hydro’s website says.

Electricity use hit record highs this week. Hydro’s electricity load peaked at 3,751 megawatts Monday at 5 p.m. when the temperature hit 33.9 C. The previous summertime peak was recorded on June 6, 2023, with 3,529 megawatts used at about 5 p.m., when the temperature was 31.4 C.

The province’s highest electricity use at one time took place in winter, reaching 5,111 megawatts on Jan. 20, 2025, when the temperature was -32.7 C.

Manitoba Hydro’s total electricity capability is 6,074 megawatts.

On July 27, Hydro will undergo six weeks of public hearings before the Public Utilities Board to present its long-term plan to increase its power production through new infrastructure and energy-saving measures.

» Winnipeg Free Press