Record year “on all fronts” for the OPUC
President and CEO of the Oshawa Power and Utilities Corporation Ivano Labricciosa says the last year was massively successful for the Oshawa utility. The organization’s annual report shows a dividend of $2.3 million going back to the City of Oshawa, the sole shareholder.
By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express
It was a big year for Oshawa’s electrical supplier, and in more ways than one.
While numbers released in the organization’s annual report show a $2.3 million dividend for the City of Oshawa, an increase of 21 per cent over the year before, Oshawa Power and Utilities Corporation (OPUC) president and CEO Ivano Labricciosa says that wasn’t all that increased in 2016.
“It was a record year on all fronts,” he says. “On all fronts we had positive stories.”
The OPUC supplies power to approximately 58,000 customers in the city of Oshawa, a number that increased by 854 customers, or 1.5 per cent over the last year. The utility also has the lowest rates of any in Durham Region and are amongst the lowest in the province.
In 2016, the utility brought online a number of new projects outside of their normal purview, including taking on energy management responsibilities with the Toronto Community Housing project in Regent Park and has partnered with Flashfibr, a company planning a $4 million investment in the city to create a network of fibre optic services.
“That’s adding to our bottom line as well in terms of working with other businesses,” Labricciosa says, adding the work will add to the city’s objective of “advancing the technology footprint in the city.”
In terms of future rates, the OPUC recently filed its rate application with the Ontario Energy Board and is actually planning to reduce rates. However, Labricciosa says that comes with its own challenges.
“At the same time, with costs going down, we have to rise to the challenge of giving better returns to the city as well,” he says.
And with costs going down, the OPUC is also attempting to deal with the speedy growth happening across the city. To do so, they’ve begun the practice of meeting with developers ahead of time to plan and hopefully reduce the amount of time it takes between move-in and utility services going live.
“We’re trying to move that timeline ahead so we’re ready for them,” he says.
Two new transformer stations are also planned to go online in the next two years. One, slated for Wilson Road North and Conlin Road, is set for completed in 2018 and another at Townline Road North and Winchester Road East is set to be in service by 2019.