History

Orangeville Hydro has a long and rich history involving many individuals who strive to deliver efficient, reliable, and safe electrical energy.

Our history dates back to the early 1800s when J.C. Anderson made the initiative to integrate electrical power into the town of Orangeville.

Through Anderson’s and others’ efforts, by 1916 Orangeville signed a contract with Ontario Hydro. As a result of the contract, in 1937 Dr.Campbell stated that Hydro was one of the town’s greatest assets and was running debt-free.

As the Town of Orangeville grew and expanded during the eighties and nineties, so did the utility. With growth came an increased demand for electricity. As a result, Orangeville Hydro began to construct a 27,600-volt feeder in 1990.

In 1999, Orangeville Hydro was awarded the Presidents Award from the Electrical and Utilities Safety Association in recognition of 250,000 hours without a lost time injury.

We also won the Achievement Award from EUSA in 2002 and 2003. In addition to the surplus of new residents of Orangeville, another 27,600-volt feeder was added in July of 2003.

In 2008 Orangeville Hydro became a member of Utility Collaborative Services Inc. (UCS), an Ontario-based organization that has now grown to 9 provincial Local Distribution Companies (LDCs) serving 102,387 customers. As a direct result of joining this cooperative, Orangeville Hydro realized the benefits of reliable cost-competitive long term software and service solutions in an increasingly complex and resource intensive marketplace. The members are continuing to support and work cooperatively on standardization of their systems leading to major cost savings for each other. They continue to negotiate preferential agreements with vendors and can see cost savings through shared resources.

Effective January 1, 2009, Orangeville Hydro Limited and Grand Valley Energy Inc. merged companies for a total number of 10,975 customers in their combined service areas.

Grand Valley customers were familiar with Orangeville staff performing line work in the village which resulted in a fairly seamless transition. Smart meters were fully deployed in Orangeville Hydro’s service territory to all eligible customers by the end of 2011. The hourly readings provided by the smart meters allow Orangeville Hydro to have more detailed information about the customer’s electricity use. Time of use pricing was also implemented in 2011 to provide customers the ability to manage their electricity use during peak hours. The Operations Department was able to utilize the real-time information and related databases to improve power quality and reduce outage times to their customers.

In 2015, based on customers’ preference for online access to their usage, Customer Connect was developed. This feature can be found on our website and allows customers to measure and monitor their own usage, with user-friendly charts and graphs. E-billing is also available within Customer Connect and allows customers to view and print their bill. Customers also have the option of receiving notifications regarding usage, bills, etc. through email or text message.

In 2016, we celebrated our 100th Anniversary here at Orangeville Hydro.

For the past six years, Orangeville Hydro has been hosting a Customer Appreciation day, entitled Educate, Engage, Energize (Triple E Day)! Customers enjoy a delicious BBQ, take a bucket truck ride, test drive an electric car, and meet the staff at Orangeville Hydro. They are able to enter to win great prizes, exchange old incandescent light bulbs for a new LED bulb, watch the hazard hamlet and learn about electrical safety. They can also learn about conservation programs, as well as programs offered by our partners – County of Dufferin Social Services, Waste Management and Emergency Management, and the Town of Orangeville. In March 2018, an extra feeder was energized.

Our Company

Reports

Residential Customers

Business Customers

Infrastructure Services

Ongoing Projects

Engineering Service Requests

Power Outages

Safety & Reporting Outages

History

Our history dates back to the early 1800s when J.C. Anderson made the initiative to integrate electrical power into the town of Orangeville.

Effective January 1, 2009, Orangeville Hydro Limited and Grand Valley Energy Inc. merged companies for a total number of 10,975 customers in their combined service areas.

Energizing Our Community’s Future

About

Self Serve

Infrastructure