Major Shakeup at Hydro One
Posted on July 26, 2018 by Will Gehrke
Tags, Energy
A change in power has occurred in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. The Legislative Assembly is now controlled by the Progressive Conservative party. The premier of Ontario is now Doug Ford, the older brother of infamous Toronto mayor Rob Ford.
Why is CUB reporting on the results of an election in a foreign country?
Avista Corp. is currently being purchased by Hydro One. Avista is a Washington based utility, with natural gas operations in Oregon. Hydro One is a public-private company. The Ontario government owns a plurality of shares, which means that Ontario is the predominant owner of Hydro One. CUB has been closely involved in this merger case, advocating for a series of improvements to the original proposal to guarantee more direct benefits for Oregon customers.
On his campaign trail, Doug Ford made several promises to voters about the operation of Hydro One. Hydro One was founded as a wholly state-owned operation; however, the previous administration partially privatized the company in 2015. Premier Ford has been critical of the executive compensation at Hydro One - among his campaign promises was the goal to lower the electricity bills of Ontario residents by removing Hydro One’s CEO Mayo Schmidt. Ford recently fulfilled his campaign promise: Under quickly escalating pressure, Mayo Schmidt stepped down as CEO the week of July 11. As part of this transition, the entire board of directors at Hydro One resigned.
From the outside, it appears that political elections have an influence over Hydro One’s operations. In the meantime, Hydro One is operating without a permanent Chief Executive Officer or a board of directors. The merger will place Avista under the umbrella of Hydro One, but the long term strategy of Hydro One is still undetermined. As a result of this political development, we will continue to monitor the situation in Ontario. CUB along with other Intervenors will file additional rounds of testimony to ensure that Avista’s customers are protected. It remains to be seen who will lead Hydro One, what is their ongoing business strategy, and who will step in to replace the previous Directors of the Board. Stay tuned for further updates about the Hydro One/Avista merger process.
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07/31/18 | 0 Comments | Major Shakeup at Hydro One