Hydro cancellations not a worry
$5.55M dividend from Peterborough Utilities for 2017
The cancellation of two massive hydroelectric dams along the Trent-Severn Waterway wasn’t really a surprise, said the president and CEO of Peterborough Utilities Group – and it’s no cause for despair.
John Stephenson told city councillors Monday night that he and other officials knew the projects may be cancelled under a new Progressive Conservative government — and indeed they were.
“But I am hopeful that with discussions with the (provincial) government, that over time people will realize that hydro has, in my opinion, a special niche in the grand scheme of renewable generation assets,” Stephenson said at City Hall.
Stephenson was at the meeting to tell councillors that Peterborough Utilities Group (PUG), the city’s electricity and water distribution companies, had an outstanding year in 2017.
“We’re certainly punching well above our weight class,” he said.
According to the 2017 annual report, the company had “a very strong year” in 2017, “with earnings and shareholder returns at their highest levels in our history”.
It helped a lot that weather conditions were favourable to generating hydro power, states the report.
The city can expect dividends of $5.55 million from 2017, states the report (that’s two per cent more than in 2016, when the city got $5.44 million in dividends).
It includes dividends from Peterborough Distribution Inc. (PDI), the poles-and-wires company that is about to be sold to Hydro One.
PDI generated 14 per cent of those dividends in 2017, states the report.
Stephenson emphasized on Monday that most of that dividend money comes from renewable energy generation.
The sale of PDI is expected to net the city somewhere between $50 million and $55 million (once the utility’s taxes and debts are paid).
Part of the deal for the city was a new Hydro One regional office, to be built in Peterborough.
But Coun. Keith Riel said Hydro One officials were measuring the floor space in PUG’s current offices on Ashburnham Dr., recently – and he wondered whether that means no new office building is coming.
Stephenson said building a new regional office will take time – and Hydro One staff will have to work from an office in the meantime, likely on Ashburnham Dr.
Riel also asked whether all electricity meters in the city will have to be replaced to suit Hydro One – and if so, who would pay for that.
Stephenson said he doubts that will be necessary.
“I don’t anticipate any massive swap-out of meters – I’d be very surprised if that’s the situation.”