BROCKTON – Westario Power, which supplies electricity to communities in the Town of Minto, has announced the proposed sale of the utility to ERTH Corporation.
The move was announced on Dec. 8 and the Westario board has also recommended shareholders approve the sale.
“We are confident this sale will benefit our customers, employees and the communities we serve by making sure the utility can meet the demands of electrification, growth and climate change,” stated board chair and Saugeen Shores Mayor Luke Charbonneau in a press release.
“We had the opportunity to take our time and carefully consider many options, and with the support of a steering committee and expert working groups, to hear from many interested buyers before determining that a sale to ERTH would be the right choice for our staff, customers and shareholders.”
The press release noted ERTH, based in Ingersoll, will establish an advisory committee for a one-year period following the closing of the proposed transaction to provide ongoing communication between Westario and ERTH.
The advisory committee will review the impacts and implementation of the sale to ensure Westario communities are continuing to “receive excellent service.”
“We did not make this decision lightly,” stated Westario president Walter Malcolm.
“We had some non-negotiables in terms of a sale. We had to be sure that customer rates would be kept at existing levels and that our high level of service would be maintained.
“One thing was critical – we needed to protect the jobs of our highly-skilled Westario staff.”
Westario Power is based in Brockton, with its head office in the East Ridge business area.
For Brockton Mayor Chris Peabody, it was vital to both protect the approximately 35 jobs at Westario, and to maintain the footprint in Brockton, which is centrally located at what will be the north end of ERTH’s service area, assuming the sale is ratified by the shareholders.
That was confirmed in the press release, which stated, “Both line and office staff will be maintained along with the administration office and operations facility.”
In the short term, Westario customers will continue to receive bills from Westario Power, and will receive regular updates as the transaction progresses.
Rates will increase only at the rate of inflation, as they would have under Westario Power.
Customers will continue to receive the same standards of service for response times and restoring outages, officials say.
ERTH Power is in the process of expanding its remote control room with the goal of providing 24/7 remote emergency service across the region to shorten outages when they happen.
Peabody commented that the sale has been in the works for over a year.
Now comes the process of each municipality voting on the sale. Then the sale has to be approved by the Ontario Energy Board, which could take another seven or eight months.
The board’s decision to sell Westario Power is part of a broader provincial trend to consolidate small utilities to ensure they can meet rising electricity demands, ensure stable rates and respond quickly to power outages amid unpredictable weather in a changing climate, officials say.
Westario provides electricity to 24,500 customers and maintains the substations within 746 kilometres of distribution lines.
It supplies electricity to Clifford, Palmerston and Harriston, as well as Port Elgin, Kincardine, Hanover, Southampton, Walkerton, Wingham, Lucknow, Mildmay, Teeswater, , Ripley, Neustadt and Elmwood.
ERTH Corporation is a municipal holding company jointly owned by nine Ontario municipalities.
Its regulated subsidiary, ERTH Power Corporation, distributes electricity to more than 25,000 customers across 15 communities in southwestern Ontario.