Manitoba Hydro has been awarded the “Emergency Recovery Award” by the Edison Electric Institute, for its outstanding power restoration efforts following the Thanksgiving snowstorm.

The award is given to EEI member companies to recognize extraordinary efforts to restore power to customers after service disruptions due to severe weather conditions or natural disasters.

On Thanksgiving weekend, a severe snowstorm brought wet snow and high winds to the province, resulting in 184,078 outages Manitoba-wide. Due to Hydro employees’ tireless work, crews restored service to 98 percent of customers 9 days after the storm, dedicating 186,000 man-hours to the recovery.

Hydro president and CEO, Jay Grewal, says that Hydro is pleased to be recognized for their efforts following the storm.

“This was the largest restoration in our company’s history, requiring the replacement of more than 4,000 poles, stringing 600 miles of new overhead wire, and the engagement of three mutual aid partners –SaskPower, Hydro One, and Minnesota Power,” said Grewal. “I’m very proud of the work our employees and partners did under such challenging conditions to get our customers back on as quickly as possible.”

Hydro was presented the award at EEI’s Winter Board and Chief Executives Meeting in Tuscon, Arizona.