Manitoba Hydro customers in the Gainsborough area, southwest of Portage la Prairie, will be affected by a planned power outage Friday morning.

The crown corporation says about 70 customers will lose power from 8 a.m., until noon as work is done on the western portion of the Southport Station feeder line.

An electrical substation in Portage la Prairie. (photo by Mike Blume)

“This planned outage is required and will allow our crews to safely upgrade the local distribution electrical system in the area,” says Manitoba Hydro public affairs officer Bruce Owen. “By improving it now, this will mitigate the possibility of a longer, unplanned outage in the future.”

“Some of the work can't be done on live lines. We have to de-energize the lines so our crews can go in there and get this work done quickly and safely, and then re-energize the system.”

Manitoba Hydro says it's attempted to contact all customers that could be affected by phone to notify them directly about the planned outage.

“We appreciate the patience of our customers while we do this work.” Owen adds. “We recognize it can be frustrating at times, but we're trying to do it as quickly and safely as possible.”