Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro is beginning a multimillion-dollar upgrade of its western Labrador infrastructure.

The company says the work is necessary to meet an increasing demand for electricity from new homes and businesses in the area.

"It's about 19 to 20 million dollars to the distribution side. Two new terminal stations are about 10 million dollars," said N.L. Hydro official Jim Haynes.

"We have a couple of people in there now on the ground basically assessing all those distribution assets, so that basically when we come up with our definitive plan, we know exactly what we're doing, you know where the poles are going, what needs to be changed."

Haynes said the work should be completed by 2013.