Councillors back calls for Hydro One to sell customers to GSU

As Ontario moves ahead with plans to sell off part of Hydro One, Greater Sudbury city council is calling on the province to allow the sale of local assets to Greater Sudbury Utilities.

Meeting on Tuesday, councillors approved a motion moved by Ward 1 Coun. Mark Signoretti calling on the Liberal government to allow negotiations between the GSU and Hydro One on bringing all residents in the city under the GSU.

“Approximately 30,000 residential customers within the City of Greater Sudbury are served by Hydro One and Hydro One distribution rates are different than Greater Sudbury Hydro Inc.,” the resolution read.

“The sale of these customers to publicly owned Greater Sudbury Hydro Inc. would provide the provincial government with its desired revenue.”

In an April interview, GSU spokesperson Wendy Watson said if the Liberals sell the majority of Hydro One shares through an initial public offering (IPO), it would likely spell the end of efforts to bring all hydro customers in Greater Sudbury into one utility.

"If that happens, our view is that our opportunity to acquire the Hydro One customers in the City of Greater Sudbury — and make the City of Greater Sudbury whole, as it were — would disappear," Watson said.

The province hopes to raise as much as $4 billion through the Brampton deal and the Hydro One IPO, money that will be used to help fund more than $31 billion in infrastructure projects the Liberals have planned.

Watson said GSU customers pay rates that are nine to more than 41 per cent lower than Hydro One, depending on where they live. While it's a city owned utility, she said not everyone gets the same benefit.

"Only 44,000 of those shareholders actually get to enjoy the advantage of having their own local utility — with lower rates, higher levels of reliability, with a local office, so if they have a question, they can come in and actually meet with someone face to face," she said. "We believe it should be equitable for all citizens in Greater Sudbury."

Similar resolutions supporting bringing all residents under the same utility have been passed by previous councils, the most recent in 2007.

Under the resolution passed Tuesday, Mayor Brian Bigger, on behalf of city council, formally requested the province allow a “transparent procurement process to investigate the purchase of Greater Sudbury's approximately 30,000 Hydro One customers at fair market value.”

A copy of the resolution is being sent to Premier Kathleen Wynne, Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli and all local MPPs.