Hydro One CEO says rate hike needed to keep the system stable

Hydro One’s president and CEO says the utility has applied for a rate increase in order to keep the power system stable.

After a speech to the Empire Club today, Mayo Schmidt spoke about the application that’s currently before the Ontario Energy Board, which seeks to increase rates by 0.5 per cent this year and 4.8 per cent next year.

He says if Hydro One doesn’t apply for capital that is required to replace aging equipment and that equipment fails, people are left without power.

As it considers the application, the OEB recently ordered Hydro One to cut its administrative budget by $30 million over two years.

It also rejected a Hydro One proposal to give all of the tax savings generated by its 2015 initial public offering to shareholders, instead ordering that 29 per cent go to customers.

Hydro One has asked the OEB to reconsider, and Schmidt says the company believes those savings belong to shareholders.

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