THUNDER BAY – Keeping Thunder Bay Hydro profits in the municipally-owned utility results in the city having some of the lowest average residential electricity charges in the province.
At Thunder Bay Hydro’s annual general meeting, which was held Wednesday night, officials presented residential rates from different providers across the province which showed local average residential electricity rates are the fourth lowest in Ontario.
According to a bill calculator on the Ontario Energy Board’s website, the monthly Thunder Bay Hydro residential bill for 800 kilowatt hours is $145.92, about $13 less than the provincial average.
That figure does not apply to customers serviced by Hydro One.
“It’s partially due to the city’s policy of not taking the financial return from us and allowing us to keep rates low,” Thunder Bay Hydro president Robert Mace said on Thursday.
“It’s also because we have a strong emphasis on cost control and productivity. That’s showing results in rates to our customers.”
Mace added he is only aware of one other utility, the Fort Frances Power Corp., which doesn’t directly deliver financial returns to the municipality.
By comparison, the calculator shows the same bill would cost $169.85 in Toronto, though their utility pays an annual dividend of 50 per cent of the annual consolidated net income. The same usage in Ottawa would cost $148.55, which provides the municipality with an annual dividend amounting to 60 per cent of its net income.
The cost for North Bay customers is $153.11, though their utility typically pays an annual dividend in the neighbourhood of $700,000.
Though there is no regular fixed dividend, the utility produced its first cheque to the city at the meeting.
The $150,000 dividend from the previous two years is the result of a $900,000 solar generation project which put panels on municipal building roofs.
Mace estimated the project could result in regular annual dividends of $70,000 over the next 18 years.
