It’s been 16 months since a blue-ribbon panel recommended significant consolidation among Ontario’s power authorities.
Since then, some hydro companies have made significant steps in that direction.
Last spring, Norfolk Power Distribution was sold to Hydro One for $93 million.
When Hydro One bought Haldimand County Hydro months later, the purchase price was $62 million.
Woodstock Hydro remains in exclusive talks with the province’s largest electricity distributor as well.
And now Brant County Power may join the club.
Options for the future of that utility – which serves Paris, St. George, Mount Pleasant and Burford – will go in front of councillors in early May.
“They haven’t decided one way or the other. They’re considering a bunch of proposals,” Brant County Power CEO Ed Glasbergen tells CTV News.
Those proposals include a sale – although not necessarily to Hydro One – as well as a merger and retaining the status quo.
While the financial component of any deal will be a big factor – the expected price tag for a sale would cover the $500,000 annual dividend the utility pays the county for many years to come – Glasbergen says he hopes councillors also keep in mind the effect on the utility’s 30 employees and what it will mean for local hydro rates.
“If they consider all those things in addition to the amount of money they’d receive, then we’ve done our job and they’ll make the right decision,” he says.
Elsewhere, Waterloo Region’s hydro utilities say they have not had any discussions about merging, while Guelph Hydro says it anticipates further changes in the industry but has not taken part in any specific merger talks.
The 2012 report recommended that Ontario’s 73 separate hydro utilities consolidate into as few as eight – with Hydro One becoming even more dominant outside Toronto and northern Ontario.
According to the report, those changes would save $1.2 billion over 10 years and make it easier for the utilities to borrow money for system upgrade projects.
With files from The Canadian Press
