Another southern Ontario hydro utility is being sold to Hydro One.

Woodstock city councillors voted Wednesday in favour of selling Woodstock Hydro to the province’s largest energy distributor.

Among others, they join politicians in Norfolk and Haldimand counties, who sold their power utilities to Hydro One in 2013.

More recently, Brant County councillors agreed to sell Brant County Power to Cambridge and North Dumfries Hydro for $40.2 million.

The price tag for the Woodstock deal clocks in slightly higher, with Hydro One paying $46.2 million – approximately $17 million to pay off debt, with the remainder going into city coffers.

Rather than spend that money on new infrastructure projects, as some municipalities in similar situations have done, it will be placed into long-term investments designed to pay dividends years into the future.

“By setting up this investment fund and paying off the current debt, the City of Woodstock would be in a very good fiscal position,” Woodstock Mayor Pat Sobeski told reporters.

“In the eyes of many councillors, if you make a good business decision, that’s good politics.”

In 2013, Woodstock Hydro paid the city a dividend of approximately $450,000. Sobeski said he expects annual returns from the utility sale and subsequent investments to exceed that figure.

For its part, Hydro One says the deal is a natural fit, considering it already services the city’s Toyota plant and nearby new residential developments.

Hydro One president Carmine Marcello said the organization plans to build a new operations centre in Woodstock to combine its existing operations in the area with those of Woodstock Hydro.

“We see the number of jobs in the community actually growing,” he said.

Wednesday’s vote wasn’t unanimous, with Coun. Sandra Talbot one of two opposed to the deal.

“Woodstock Hydro has been an excellent utility – well-run and owned by the taxpayers,” she said following the vote.

“I’m so concerned about Hydro One becoming a monopoly, and then the accountability is lost.”

Talbot said she would have liked to see more public consultation on the matter, and may have preferred a sale to a smaller, regional utility.

The deal must still be approved by the Ontario Energy Board.

If approved, Hydro One will then apply to reduce electricity distribution rates for Woodstock Hydro customers by one per cent – and to freeze that rate for five years.