Proposed Ontario utility merger approved by all shareholders
The City of Markham in mid-November became the final shareholder to approve the transaction, subject to having certain agreements in place. The other six shareholders involved in the transaction include the municipalities of Barrie, Hamilton, Mississauga, St. Catharines and Vaughan and Borealis, a division of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System and a shareholder of Enersource.
“The merger is a win-win for customers and shareholders,” said merger spokesman John Crean. “By generating cost savings through significant economies of scale, the merger will reduce the rising cost of electricity for customers and improve returns for municipal shareholders – monies that can be invested back into communities. By maintaining competitive local distribution rates, the communities also remain attractive to new investment, which benefits all municipal taxpayers and electricity ratepayers.”
Once the agreements are finalized, details of the transaction will be forwarded to the Ontario Energy Board for regulatory approval, a process that is expected to take several months.
When the transaction is completed, the new utility will deliver electricity and related services to more than 900,000 residential and commercial customers in the Greater Golden Horseshoe area, making it OntarioÂ’s second largest local electric distribution company.
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VANCOUVER - BC Hydro is reminding British Columbians to conserve power over the holidays after a report commissioned by the utility found the arrival of guests for Christmas dinner results in a 15% increase in electricity usage.
Cooking appears to be the number one culprit for the uptick in peoples’ hydro bills. According to BC Hydro press release, British Columbians use about 8,000 megawatt hours more of electricity by mid-day Christmas — that's about 1.5 million turkeys roasted in electric ovens.
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About 95% of British Columbians said they would make meals at home from scratch over the holiday season.…