London Hydro wants to expand.
During a presentation to the strategic priorities and policy committee meeting Monday, officials said London is a limited market and so it wants the opportunity to buy smaller utilities in nearby cities.
The local utility wants to look into buying utilities in Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo, said CEO Vinay Sharma.
“We are ready for the future. We are ahead of utilities, not only in Ontario, not only in Canada, but in North America,” he said.
“We are a leader in North America in technology. Our technologies are being used in a couple utilities in the U.S. as well.”
The tri-cities are only about an hour away and are not currently owned by any large companies, Sharma said.
The only problem is the City of London is a shareholder, and according to the current shareholder agreement, London Hydro isn’t allowed to buy other utilities.
The annual report from London Hydro laid out its plan for growth. The utility will spend $107 million from 2017 to 2021 on infrastructure improvements, such as wires and switches, a new transformer station and underground cables.
The report also said the amount spent on digital technology will increase to $10 million in 2020 from $5 million now.
When it comes to hydro rates, Sharma said, they’re out of the utility’s hands.
“The provincial government has taken the responsibility for high bills on their shoulders. Unfortunately we are not in a position to control the rates that the government charges for energy and other regulated service,” he said.
London Hydro’s cost and rates currently sit as one of the lowest in the Ontario, Sharma said.
Some of that has to do with a switch to paperless billing.
Sharma said it has saved the company $1.5-million —a direct saving for Londoners.
Sharma has reached out to city manager Martin Hayward and hopes to meet with him in the coming weeks to discuss changing the agreement.
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