Edmonton's Electrical Service By the Numbers

99.99%

Edmonton's electricity service has a 99.9% reliability rating. That means the lights are on 99.9% of the time. And when power does fail, we have Power Trouble crews with a bucket truck and at least two other crew members standing by; one on the north side and one on the south side. When more help is needed, other crews can be called in.

43 Minutes

In 2022, a typical Edmonton home averaged 1.11 power outages lasting about 43 minutes each, and that's better than 3/4 of the major urban centres across Canada.

7,661 Kilometres

EPCOR Distribution & Transmission Inc. (EDTI) – one of our business units – distributes power through about 7,661 circuit kilometres of primary distribution lines, serving about 395,261 residential and 39,988​ commercial customers in Edmonton.

298 Feeders

EDTI distributes power to Edmontonians through 298​​ 'feeders' – primarily distribution circuits running from substations through the city's neighbourhoods. They're lower voltage than the main transmission lines that carry electricity from power generating plants to the substations.

The Bottom 9

EPCOR's Reliability Council consists of a committee of field personnel, engineers and managers that reviews all outages, looking for ways to reduce power failures. Each year, the 9 worst performing circuits are reviewed and action plans are developed and submitted to the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC).

50,000 Wooden Poles

Each of Edmonton's roughly 50,000 wooden power poles is inspected every five years for rot and physical damage.

Inspections

We regularly inspect all equipment and make repairs whenever possible before outages happen. As a member of the Canadian Electricity Association's Service Continuity Committee, we participate in monthly discussions with Canada's other utilities about how to improve reliability. The committee also standardizes the way utilities report outages.

System Control

We're installing distribution automation devices designed to reduce outages by identifying system faults and automatically closing and opening circuits. This helps ensure that if one city circuit fails, another is available to get your lights back on.

We're also improving restoration times by installing radio devices on both underground and aerial circuits that inform our control operators if an outage occurs in a specific location.