SaskPower is set to begin installing smart meters on residences across Saskatchewan.

This follows a successful pilot that saw 17,000 volunteers receive residential smart meters this year.

In addition to the 17,000 meters deployed during the residential pilot, an additional 45,000 commercial and industrial smart meters have also been installed province-wide.

Minister Responsible for SaskPower, Don Morgan, talked about the benefits of smart meters saying "If there's a power outage they send a signal to SaskPower that there's been a power outage or a power failure, so they're able to isolate an area where powers have gone out and identify what they have to do to fix it. It also sends every 15 minutes a message back to SaskPower as to what the energy consumption is at that particular point in time."

Customers across the province will receive their smart meters during the next few years as supply allows.

SaskPower's deployment plan is responsive to the availability of meters, which has been affected by the ongoing global microchip shortage.