Nearly two hundred Manitoba Hydro customers in Steinbach were without power for about three hours today.

Spokesperson Bruce Owen says it was a planned outage impacting 173 customers.

Owen says the outage lasted from 10 am to 1 pm and was necessary because they are upgrading the service for Grace Mennonite Church.

"They were on single-phase and as of today they are on three-phase, which of course means a more reliable service," explains Owen.

He notes another planned outage will happen in Steinbach tomorrow, impacting Cedar Crescent, Willow Crescent, Willow Place and Southwood Drive. The outage is expected to last from 9 am to 2 pm. Owen notes this outage is also for system improvements.

According to Owen, all customers impacted by today and tomorrow's planned outages were notified in advance.