April 8, 2016 – Hydro One says it will invest $20 million this year in the districts of Muskoka and Parry Sound, Ont. to improve reliability and reduce tree-related outages. According to the company, the investment includes line clearing, annual maintenance and upgrades to over 1000 km of lines to benefit over 40,000 customers along with a number of local electric utilities connected to Hydro One’s Muskoka Transmission Station.

In 2015, trees caused more than 400 outages on the segments of line targeted by this investment, the utility notes.

“We are taking steps to complete this work in a manner that creates the least possible disruption for our customers,” said Jon Rebick of Hydro One. “For the vast majority of the project, our crews will be able to do their work while the lines are electrified so we can keep electricity flowing to local homes and businesses.”

Forestry work is now underway and is expected to be complete by the end of 2016. More than 100 forestry staff will remove or trim trees and brush that is, or has the potential to interfere with power lines and cause outages.

Hydro Own also notes staff will also conduct annual maintenance work of replacing end-of-life or damaged distribution equipment and poles at the same time forestry work is being done.