Hydro One is investing $20 million in Parry Sound and Muskoka to reduce tree-related outages.
The utility says trees represent the single largest cause of power outages in this densely wooded area and trees caused more than 400 outages on the segments of line in the region last year.
The investment includes line clearing, annual maintenance and upgrades to more than 1,000 kilometres of lines on Hydro One’s electricity distribution system.
Forestry work is underway and is expected to be complete by the end of 2016 with more than 100 highly-skilled forestry staff removing or trimming trees and brush that is, or has the potential to interfere with power lines and cause outages.
To reduce impact on traffic and business during busy summer months and improve efficiency, lines staff will conduct annual maintenance work of replacing end-of-life or damaged distribution equipment and poles at the same time forestry work is being done.