Electricity Canada has awarded its Sustainable Electricity Award for Leadership in External Collaboration and Partnerships to SaskPower. The award recognizes the company’s commitment to external collaboration and partnerships with Indigenous Peoples, local communities and stakeholders.

Specifically, the award acknowledged two of SaskPower’s recent initiatives:

• The Indigenous Customer Care Program, which responds to the unique and growing needs of remote northern Indigenous communities and builds positive relationships to improve customer experiences; and
• SaskPower’s strategic plan to mitigate potential damage from wildfires in the boreal forest, where the company maintains more than 2,700 kilometres of power lines. SaskPower addressed the challenge by collaborating with northern Indigenous communities to develop and execute an integrated vegetation management program.

“This award is a testament to SaskPower’s efforts to meaningfully engage and collaborate with Indigenous customers and communities as we continue our transition to a sustainable future,” said Rupen Pandya, SaskPower President & CEO. “Through these initiatives we have improved customer outcomes and reduced the number of fires and outages caused by overgrown vegetation.”

The Sustainable Electricity Awards, which were held on November 23, recognized companies in the electricity sector who have achieved the high-level goals of sustainable development and corporate responsibility. SaskPower was one of only three companies recognized for its commitment to sustainable development and corporate responsibility.

SaskPower is also one of only 11 Canadian utilities holding Electricity Canada’s Sustainable Electricity Leader designation. It is based on the ISO 26000 Guidance on Social Responsibility, and designation holders must obtain third-party verification of compliance with Electricity Canada program criteria.

For information about the awards, please visit electricity.ca.

At a glance...

• SaskPower has received Electricity Canada’s award for collaboration and partnerships
• The award recognized SaskPower’s Indigenous Customer Care Program and northern wildfire strategy
• More information can be found at electricity.ca