Contacting commercial customers is part of annual operations, a representative said
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Contacting customers to discuss their hydro use is a normal part of annual operations, according to a Hydro One representative.
“Each year, every local electricity distribution company is required to review the electricity usage of their commercial customers to ensure they are in the correct rate class,” Tiziana Baccega Rosa, senior media relations advisor with Hydro One, told Farms.com in an email yesterday.
“Over the past few weeks, we have been in the process of contacting those customers that are on the threshold of potentially needing to be reclassified based on their usage over the past 12 months.”
Ontario growers have indicated they’ve received calls from Hydro One about their electricity consumption. Unless these farmers reduce their usage, their bills will increase.
“It came across that our peak usage was too high,” Mark Davis, a cash crop and hog producer from Lennox & Addington County, told Farms.com today. “We do about $3,000 per month in hydro year-round, but when we’re bringing crop for drying, we run about $8,500 per month.”
Part of Hydro One’s correspondence with customers, Rosa said, is “offering customers a free energy audit in order to identify what conservation and demand programs may best suit the customer’s needs which would ultimately reduce their electricity consumption and their bill.”
Davis confirmed Hydro One offered him an energy audit.
Hydro One does offer incentives for LED lighting installation and variable frequency drive (VFD) installations on motors.
But farmers feel that, even after investing in new equipment, they haven’t seen a bill reduction.
“We went to a more efficient grain dryer that uses 45 hp instead of 105 hp and we put VFDs on our big motors, (yet) our bill keeps going up,” Davis said. “We’re now going to read our meter every month on the due date and submit it to them so each one our bills will have an actual reading.”
During one call, a Hydro One representative told Davis not to use his equipment during peak hours. That’s a clear indication of the disconnect between the company and its farm customers, Davis said.
“The people at Hydro One have no idea how a farm operates,” he said. “I can’t just shut off the fans in the pig barn, I need to ventilate it. And, when we’re bringing crops in for drying, we basically run all day. That’s just the way it works.”
Kevin Wilson, a cash crop and beef producer from Vankleek Hill, Ont., also spoke to Farms.com about receiving a call from Hydro One.