Hydro One considering prepaid power meters

Hydro One is considering allowing its customers to use prepaid meters for their electricity use.

The proposal is contained within a massive Ontario Energy Board application, which also asks for a rate increase of 0.5 per cent this year and 4.8 per cent next year.

The application says the prepaid meters would minimize Hydro One’s financial risk by requiring customers to pay for energy before using it — in particular, customers deemed to be a high collection risk.

But Hydro One’s executive vicepresident of customer care and corporate affairs said it would not be used as a collection tool, adding that the language in the application to the energy board is very generic and “somewhat out of context.”

If the board lets Hydro One move forward with prepaid meters, they would be offered to customers as a choice and wouldn’t be forced on anyone, Ferio Pugliese said.

The NDP believes the move would allow Hydro One to circumvent a winter disconnection ban.

“They’re going to move forward with this and they’re going to go after anyone who has a bad credit score, anyone who’s in arrears — anyone who they think is vulnerable,” energy critic Peter Tabuns said.

Hydro One’s application says once the prepaid amount on a meter is used up, “power is cut off until the customer is able to load the meter with more credits.”

But Pugliese said that would “absolutely not” happen, noting Hydro One was the first utility to voluntarily stop winter disconnections. “We are not about to go about the business of disconnecting people, especially remotely, once something like this runs out,” he said.

Energy Minister Glen Thibeault stressed that prepaid smart metres are in very preliminary stages and their inclusion in the approximately 2,000 page application is a small detail.