Peterborough, PDI and Hydro One to resume negotiations for electricity deal

It was somewhat of a shocking announcement given the way things had fallen apart.

After walking away from the negotiation table, representatives with Hydro One have resumed talks with city staff and the board from Peterborough Utilities Inc. to purchase the city’s public utility distribution company.

Peterborough Mayor Daryl Bennett suggested the two sides are prepared to resume negotiations.

“Parties have committed to continuing its discussions in the near future,” Bennett said in a prepared statement. “This statement does not prejudice our opportunity to seek costs and certainly the negotiations as stated are ongoing and so we have to be a bit cautious that we don’t impede those in any way.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Parties have committed to continuing its discussions in the near future," Bennett said in a prepared statement. "This statement does not prejudice our opportunity to seek costs and certainly the negotiations as stated are ongoing and so we have to be a bit cautious that we don't impede those in any way."

Hydro One backed out of negotiations to purchase Peterborough Distribution Inc (PDI) — the city-owned electrical distribution wing of Peterborough Utilities — in early March and so it appeared the approximately $105-million deal was dead in the water.

The city was looking at contingency plans from the fallout and in a report written last month by city CAO Allan Seabrooke, he focused his sights on trying to recoup costs lost in the negotiations that spanned more than two years, which Hydro One had initiated.

Seabrooke’s report suggests there was also considerable staff time spent in the process, along with outside legal advice being used during the talks.

Some at the council table considered going into closed session to discuss just what the numbers looked like, as the total costs of negotiations weren’t immediately clear in Seabrooke’s report.

“This application has cost us a lot of time and money,” said Town Ward Coun. Dean Pappas. “And it’s probably in the millions of dollars in order to go down that road … And I’m just wondering what our legal options for cost recovery are?”

It appeared council and staff were reluctant to discuss those numbers publicly.

“Any legalities involved with the transaction should be done in closed session,” said Seabrooke.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Any legalities involved with the transaction should be done in closed session," said Seabrooke.

Council decided against dealing with the matter in closed session and instead approved the report for information purposes but agreed to invite Peterborough Utilities president and CEO John Stephenson to update council on the matter at a later date.

Save PDI coalition member Roy Brady was celebrating a month ago when it appeared the sale of the public asset was no longer an option, as negotiations fell to the wayside but admits he’s not surprised by Monday night’s announcement.

“When we did hear the deal was off, we could not understand exactly what the problem was or what was Hydro One’s objection,” said Brady. “So it’s not a surprise that they may be still talking or there still is a potential sale … there is certainly still a lack of trust in the community regarding this issue.”

Seabrooke says the conversations with Hydro One will continue but nothing has been finalized at this point and says they are picking up where they left off.