Building Durham’s Competitive Edge
Energy
Durham Economic Prosperity Conference 2014
Michael Angemeer P.Eng.
President & CEO
Veridian Connections
Veridian Connections
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
7th largest local distribution company (LDC)
~120,000 customers
Owned by Pickering, Ajax, Clarington, Belleville
Serves 9 communities, product of 2 mergers and
5 acquisitions
Top quartile efficiency
High returns to shareholders
7/24 Control Centre
Competitive rates
Adding value to customers
• Lower costs, less increase to electricity costs
–
–
–
–
Shared services
Cooperative
Mergers
Purchase of Hydro One territory
• Higher levels of service
– 7/24 Control Centre
– Improved coordination with municipalities
– Prudent investments in infrastructure with
limited capital
Improving Community Resilience
• Ice storm, Hurricane Sandy
• Climate change
• Smart Grid
– UOIT
• Improved communication with customers
– Twitter, outage map
• Analyze low lying areas, harden overhead system
• Microgrids for critical community infrastructure
–
–
–
–
Hospitals
Warming centres
Water pumping
Electricity and heat
Combined Heat and Power (CHP)
• Help business be more competitive
• Campuses – hospitals, universities, critical
infrastructure
• Seaton employment lands
• Intensification areas – places to grow
• Pickering airport
• Greenhouses – local food – Airport and other
areas
A One time opportunity
•
•
•
•
•
Purchase of Hydro One distribution territory
Veridian’s size could increase by more than 40%
Reduce overlap of services
Increase in service levels
Lower rates over time in Hydro One part of Clarington,
Uxbridge and other communities
– Hydro One distribution rates are over 30% more than
Veridian’s
• With partners, we could take advantage of more of this
opportunity and see the benefits of growth east and
north of Toronto coming back mostly to Durham
Region
Thank you
• Michael Angemeer
• mangemeer@veridian.on.ca