Centre Wellington Hydro president Wayne Dyce sees a future including “real out of the box thinking” with possibilities such as cellphones with apps to buy power from Google.
On June 13, Centre Wellington Hydro board members and township councillors met at a special meeting for a year in review and to take a look at future trends and opportunities.
Doug Sherwood of Centre Wellington Energy (CWE) provided an overview of the operations to councillors.
Sherwood said in 2015 Centre Wellington Energy Innovations was formed and work continues there.
Part of those efforts is the creation of a research and development centre to look at product development and potential partnerships.
“One of the main things we are doing right now, is looking at a device which would be able to run both the sump pump and the furnace in the event of a short-term ice storm (or similar emergency) so people could still have heat in their homes and the sump pumps would still work,” Sherwood said.
He added that work also continues on leveraging government funding, in part, through partnership with various universities and joint product development opportunities.
“There’s a lot of really interesting opportunities out there (regarding conservation and power generation). We are looking right now to see which ones make the most sense to focus our efforts on,” he said.
With the logo and branding established, the CWEI plans for a ‘soft’ website launch near the end of June.
Centre Wellington Hydro
Dyce said Centre Wellington Hydro has one of the lowest outage and duration (of outages) in the province.
He said the system was tested with the ice storm around Easter.
“For some reason these ice storms want to hit during holiday season,” he said.
A previous ice storm hit Centre Wellington during the Christmas season in 2013.
He added that in comparison, Centre Wellington Hydro rates remain competitive among LDC (local distribution companies) throughout the province.
However, Dyce agreed that hydro bills are going up – specifically the generation portion.
“We want to continue to get the message across that the distribution service charge is only 17% of the total bill.”
He explained 7% goes to Hydro One transmission, 15% goes to the Ontario Energy Board (and other government bodies) and 60% is for the generation.
Another important aspect for Dyce, is keeping up to date in the hydro sector.
He noted Centre Wellington’s efforts have been noted twice in the Distributor publication – once for its conservation successes and once for Centre Wellington Hydro’s substation renewal efforts.
Dyce said “as far as politics … like a lot of people we keep up to date by reading the Newspapers or a wire service every day.”
He said that “any News story relating to the energy sector … we get a link to it.”
Dyce said, “Centre Wellington Hydro needs to be cognizant of what is happening around it and do our part to keep our portion of the bill down.
“… at the same time, we need to be prepared for what is coming.”
Dyce said that looking at politics of hydro … it seems that consolidation of LDCs is still being promoted.
He told those in the room there are a number of local utilities across the province still considering the idea of selling or merging with other utilities.
He said Centre Wellington Hydro continues to adapt to changing policies, technology and regulations.
Dyce pointed to recent discussions with Orangeville Hydro and Wellington North Hydro regarding the potential of shared service opportunities – to become more efficient and save costs.
He also commented on public education efforts.
“People who come to them, walk away having learned something,” he said.
Dyce pointed to plans for an open house to engage and consult with customers on the direction the utility is heading and to answer questions.
“At the end of the day it is business as usual – staying with a balanced approach and just be prepared for the future,” he said.
In response to questions about the potential of local home power generation and people wanting to go ‘off the grid’, Dyce said even those who do want to install their own generation will likely want to remain connected to the grid in case they need it.
“Ideally, we would see a system where these co-generators would compliment the grid,” Dyce said.
He explained this would allow power to be generated closer to where the power load is being used – rather than generating more power further away.
Dyce said that rather than creating more windfarms, individual properties could be used to generate power and still be connected to the grid.
Urban boundary issue
One of the issues continuing to confuse urban residents is figuring out local boundaries.
Because Centre Wellington continues to grow, the community has expanded beyond the coverage area of the local utility.
Centre Wellington Hydro only services the urban areas of Fergus and Elora while the remainder is served by Hydro One.
Councillor Mary Lloyd said “part of our challenge is our urban boundary and that Centre Wellington Hydro is unable to service all the residents in our urban area.”
Lloyd said it is difficult for people moving into the community to understand who is their hydro provider.
“Will there ever be efforts to see that change?” she asked.
Dyce said he understands the issue. He also pointed out it is not just an concern in Centre Wellington. There are other municipalities in Ontario served by more than one power distributor, he said.
“It’s unfortunate, but right now Hydro One is not a willing seller.”
Dyce speculated that Ontario Hydro’s selling of shares may change that viewpoint in the future – once there is more private investment.
“But it is not going to be next year, or the year after,” he said.
He explained that for the most part, Hydro One makes most of its money through transmission fees.
“We’re hoping the purchase of (local) Hydro One customers will be an option in the future.”
As to the future, and the potential for electric vehicles, Dyce said the utility is looking at installing local charging stations.
Sites being considered are the tourism office on Mill Street in Elora, another in the parking lot at the Fergus library or at the curling club and another at the Centre Wellington Hydro office in Fergus.
He suggested if Hydro One sees the local utility being responsive to the community needs, “we would hope they would follow suit.”
