February 18, 2026
Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for our community reliability meeting at the Onslow Belmont Fire Brigade on February 18, 2026. It was a great conversation with thoughtful questions about power service in your area, including tree trimming and safe clearance around our equipment.
Members of our Reliability team were joined by the Municipality of Colchester Mayor Christine Blair and Councillors Marie Benoit and Lisa Patton for an opportunity to share an update on important work in your community to improve the reliability of service and gather input to incorporate into our planning.
Here are some highlights:
Over the last five years we have invested $7 million in projects to upgrade equipment on both the transmission and distribution power lines that serve your area. We have also made a significant increase in vegetation management, like tree trimming and clearing and removing trees and branches from power lines. This is essential as trees coming into contact with power lines is one of the leading causes of outages.
There is more work to do to continue to strengthen and improve the system and we have projects planned over the next two years to do that. A second transmission line is being built between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to provide a reliable supply of power to customers in Nova Scotia, to support the province in reaching 80% renewable energy by 2030, and to help with import and export options. Project partners include the Canada Infrastructure Bank and First Nations in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
There are also substation upgrades planned, more upgrades to distribution and transmission lines, and tree trimming. These projects will enhance reliability in your area.
We are in the second year of our reliability plan, which will see us invest $1.3 billion to continue to strengthen the electricity grid. This includes investing an average of $250 million in projects across Nova Scotia each year, installing protective devices, upgrading lines, replacing poles and transformers, and clearing more trees and branches from power lines to reduce outages. We have nearly doubled our tree trimming investment over the last three years, from $25 million to $45 million each year.
These community meetings have proven valuable to our team, and we hope to you too. We are committed to keeping you informed and making sure you have service you can rely on. Please reach out to your Reliability Advisor, Benjamin Arsenault, if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Keith O'Callaghan | Reliability Work Execution, Nova Scotia Power
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