Valley Heights electrical grid suffers ‘substantial failure’

Some households in the Valley Heights neighbourhood of Grand Forks spent the first day of 2025 in the dark.

The power went out for 20 homes in Valley Heights Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 1) after what the city calls a “substantial failure” to part of the power system.

City crews had to replace two transformers, rewire them and manually connect all the homes which took just over day to complete.

The city reported the power was back on late Thursday night (Jan. 2).

In a statement Friday, Mayor Everett Baker thanked Valley Heights residents for their patience and also praised workers for the long hours in the snow and cold to get the power back on.

“In November 2024, the City of Grand Forks Council identified the replacement of the entire Valley Heights Electrical system as a strategic priority for 2025. It is unfortunate that this failure occurred when it did as we are anticipating work replacing the entire electrical system will commence in early 2025,” Baker said.

As of November, an initial engineering study for the electrical upgrades had been completed.


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Bill Kingston
Bill Kingston
Bill has over 25 years of experience in the news business, with a keen interest in municipal affairs reporting. He is a graduate of Broadcast Journalism at Loyalist College in Belleville, Ontario, and a member of the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA).

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