Alectra Inc.
2185 Derry Road West, Mississauga, ON L5N 7A6 │ t 905 273 7425 alectra.com
August 19th, 2020
David Wojcik
Mississauga Board of Trade
701-77 City Centre Dr.
Mississauga, Ontario L5B 1M5
Dear Mr. Wojcik [MBOT],
This communication is to update you regarding Alectra’s ongoing efforts to support small and large business customers, in the communities we serve, as they continue to adapt to the impacts of COVID-19. When the pandemic started, our focus was on supporting our customers and municipal partners with a continuous and safe supply of power and emergency response services. We also undertook many efforts to provide for public safety and a safe workplace to our essential employees.
As provincial restrictions have begun to loosen, Alectra has moved carefully to re-start capital construction and maintenance work. We are coordinating with our contractors and suppliers down the supply chain and supporting the economic recovery where we can.
For our small business customers, the adjustment of TOU rates is very important. The government has moved to a 12.8¢ COVID-19 Recovery Rate, 24 hours a day. For small, main-street businesses, this rate during the busiest hours will help to ease costs upon re-opening. For those in arrears due to difficulties caused by the pandemic, the COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Plan-Small Business (CEAP-SB) is a relief plan that will offer some assistance in covering those outstanding bills. Details will be available at alectrautilities.com on August 31st.
We are also collaborating with the provincial government on changes that affect our larger commercial and industrial customers. On May 1st, the government announced a deferral of global adjustment (GA) costs for larger industrial and commercial customers. The GA rate for Class B was $115/mWh or 11.5¢/kWh for April, May, and June; Class A customers received the same reduction in GA. The government has since introduced a new measure that reduces the complexity of the Industrial Conservation Initiative (ICI) program through freezing the GA costs on their bill for the 2020-2021 period. Businesses on ICI will be able to focus on recovery as they move towards full operational capacity without needing to anticipate and curtail operations during peak hours.
Delivering 22% of Ontario’s electricity means that Alectra must be diligent in following the system load trends. As Ontario’s businesses closed, the demands on power dropped significantly. Demand was down as much as 12% from previous years in April and May before inching up to typical consumption patterns in June and into a new peak demand record of 5,316 MW in July. The demand mix has also changed; residential customers, once only consisting a third of all demand, has increased to 45% as our consumption patterns change with more individuals working from and staying at home. Fewer businesses operating, particularly Class B customers, means that GA costs are spread amongst those remaining in operation. This can lead to unpredictable cost spikes and less competitiveness for Ontario companies. Alectra will continue to advocate for solutions with the provincial government that provide relief and cost certainty for these customers.
I also want to briefly highlight our work on community support initiatives. Alectra has partnered with many organizations in our community and we’ve expanded our support to hospitals, food banks, and the United Way as they face serious challenges through the pandemic. We continue to look for ways to support the communities we serve and will do what we can to help during these challenging times.
We are proud to support the economic vibrancy of our communities and we will continue to be an ally to our business customers, big and small. Our Government Relations team has been working hard to provide our customers’ concerns and needs to the provincial government. We look forward to continuing to work with you through the recovery period.
For additional information and current updates, please refer to our website at https://alectrautilities.com/covid19, or, reach out to Dan Pastoric, Vice-President, Strategic Growth and Special Projects, at [email protected].
Sincerely
Brian Bentz
President and CEO
Alectra Inc.
