Duane Hicks
For once, Bruce Caldwell actually is looking forward to opening his next electricity bill.
The Frog Creek Road resident is among the 26 former Hydro One customers who, as of Sunday, now are under the Fort Frances Power Corp., which has expanded its territory to McIrvine Road North and Frog Creek Road up to the town boundary.
“I think it’s going to be positive because people in town pay a lot less for hydro than we do,” noted Caldwell.
“We pay taxes to the town every year and the only thing we get out here is garbage pickup,” he added.
“So we’re quite happy to the see the [FFPC] out this way.”
Caldwell and the other former Hydro One customers will be getting one-time rebate cheques that will be mailed out this week.
This payment is in lieu of not having benefitted from the 1905 historic power agreement after all of these years.
“Every little bit helps,” Caldwell said of the rebate.
Caldwell noted he’s happy to be an FFPC customer but added, “I’ll be probably happier when I see the first bill.”
FFPC CEO and president Joerg Ruppenstein confirmed those customers will be paying less.
“Because we are a not-for-profit utility, all of our customers in that area can expect to see a reduction on their hydro bill because our rates are set at a zero percent rate of return,” he explained.
“If you dissect your bill, there’s a couple components that we have that are lower than Hydro One, not to slam Hydro One,” Ruppenstein added.
“So at the end of the day, it’s a good news story for everyone.”
Not only will those customers that were switched over to the FFPC now benefit from some of the lowest rates in the province going forward, they’ll also receive the aforementioned one-time rebate cheques.
“All of the customers that reside inside the Town of Fort Frances have historically always been entitled to the power agreement credit, but we’ve never technically been able to make that happen because we weren’t billing these customers,” Ruppenstein noted.
“Now, working with Hydro One, we were able to rectify that so that they get the same treatment as everybody else in Fort Frances.
“These customers will receive their share of the credit that they are entitled to—so there is a one-time ‘true up’—and going forward, they’ll receive the same treatment as every other customer in the Town of Fort Frances that’s with us,” he said.
When asked to quantify the one-time “true up” amount, Ruppenstein said customers “shouldn’t have a power bill for a few months—let’s put it that way.”
“They should be very happy,” he added.
Expanding its territory also means the FFPC will increase its current customer base and the future capacity for more customers.
In addition to the McIrvine-Frog Creek area, the FFPC has two more planned expansions next spring—one on Minnie Avenue and another in the far east end of town, just before Couchiching.
This will bring five more Hydro One customers over to the FFPC.
“We’re optimistic that Fort Frances is going to grow,” said Ruppenstein.
“With the mine coming online, the Fort Frances area has been identified as a high potential area, which is fantastic.
“So all of the property that we’re unlocking access to is really going to help, hopefully, to nourish economic growth in the Fort Frances area,” he added.
“Basically, we now have the ability to service any of those property parcels in the McIrvine area, as well as the other two expansions that we’re doing.
“A lot of that is very desirable property so I wouldn’t be surprised if a year or two down the road, we’re going to maybe see some interest in lots selling or land parcels being severed and sold, and houses and businesses popping up in those areas,” Ruppenstein noted.
FFPC’s territorial expansion has been in the works for the last couple of years.
Ruppenstein said some residents and businesses within town limits have been serviced by Hydro One for years. In 2014, the FFPC engaged in a legal proceeding with Hydro One and the Ontario Energy Board, and ultimately was able to expand its area and to transfer Hydro One customers over the FFPC to “clean up its service area.”
The first phase of work was done Sunday during the scheduled power outage.
FFPC crews made all of the necessary equipment adjustments and installed smart meters, and by Sunday afternoon had converted 26 customers over to the its system.
The power outage was scheduled by Hydro One to do scheduled maintenance, with the FFPC taking the opportunity to the conversion work.
