Hydro Ottawa reaching out to help

Re: Former mayor Larry O'Brien urges Hydro Ottawa to give restaurants a break, Oct. 13.

As a former mayor and longtime business owner, I agree wholeheartedly about how important small businesses are to our city and how difficult this pandemic has been for them. As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to evolve, and in recognition of the critical and essential services that Hydro Ottawa provides to our community, we have taken — and continue to take — numerous measures to ease the burden for all customers facing financial hardship.

We continue to offer flexible payment plans to provide customers with more time to pay outstanding balances on their account if needed. We also want to remind customers experiencing financial hardship that we offer several financial assistance programs, including emergency relief and support through the provincial COVID-19 Energy Assistance Program.

The past few months and the months ahead have been and will be difficult for some more than others, and we want our customers to know that we are here to work with them and support them.

We are a heavily regulated industry and it's important to note that uncollected bills and bad debt are socialized across our entire customer base.

Hydro Ottawa has been and will continue to be flexible and supportive of our customers. I want to encourage all customers who are having difficulty paying their account to please contact us directly so we can work with you. Many have already done so and we are moving forward together.

As we await further direction from the province, we remain 100 per cent committed to our customers and are here to help them through this.