About 15,000 people were without power for nearly three hours. (File photo/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

saskpower

Equipment failure blamed for weekend power outage

Dec 8, 2025 | 2:53 PM

A power outage on Friday and Saturday is being blamed on an equipment failure likely due to extreme cold temperatures.

That’s according to SaskPower spokesperson Joel Cherry, who explained the outage was reported at 11:50 p.m. and power wasn’t restored until 2:45 a.m.

In total, approximately 15,000 customers were affected in an area that stretched north of Prince Albert and La Ronge.

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, the temperature in La Ronge around the time of the outage was -24 C but felt like -34 C with the wind.

“The reason for that is it was a transmission outage. There is one large high voltage transmission line that serves most of the area north of Prince Albert up to La Ronge and there was a technical issue on that line,” Cherry said.

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“We have people who are ready to respond to outages whenever they occur. We try to get the power back on as quickly as we can do so while still maintaining safety for our employees. Sometimes when a transmission outages happens, we are able to restore it just by switching remotely. In some cases like this, we actually have to get out and patrol the line and visibly look for issues before we can fix them. We always have our crews at the ready to get the power back on as soon as we can.”

Cherry noted power outages are never convenient, and the Crown corporation is thankful to its customers for their patience while working to restore it.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com