A large swath of southwestern Saskatchewan residents have recently endured some planned power outages.

According to SaskPower, the outages come as a result of upgrades being performed in numerous towns, villages, and R.M.'s.

"Installing new poles, running new lines, and installing new transformers," Scott McGregor, a spokesperson for SaskPower, cited as the reasoning behind the blackouts. "The importance of planned outages is that a planned outage will help prevent an emergency outage later on."

SaskPower began the upgrades at the beginning of March in the southwest and have been focusing mainly on populated areas to date.

"Right now while the ground still has got snow on it, while it still is really mucky out there - it's harder for us to get out into the rural areas," he said. "As the weather starts to improve we will likely start to work in the proper rural areas."

One project the crown corporation will be undertaking throughout the year is adding secondary services in and around Swift Current and Shaunavon.

"Those are the services that connect houses to our grid, usually in back alleys," he said. "This is all to improve reliability moving forward."

For more up-to-date information on scheduled power outages and unexpected ones, click here.