Toronto Hydro to Layoff

More bad news, in the form of layoffs that are coming to the city of Toronto. It looks like a massive layoff is coming for the workers of Toronto Hydro. For those of you who do not live in the metro area, Toronto Hydro describes itself as:,

“Toronto Hydro–Electric System Limited is the regulated “wires” affiliate of Toronto Hydro Corporation and is one of the largest municipal electric distribution utilities in Canada. We ensure the safe and reliable delivery of electrical power to approximately 696,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers across the City of Toronto. This represents 18 per cent of electricity consumers in the province of Ontario. We plan, maintain and operate Toronto’s electrical distribution system infrastructure safely, efficiently and in an environmentally responsible manner. We deliver consistent, high quality customer service and account management.”

The 1,000 members of the staff and contractors are facing the ax. The company was recently denied a 5 percent rate increase recently, so now they are looking to layoff in order to make ends meet and stay in the black.

The utility, which is owned by the city of Ontario, recently applied to the Ontario Energy Board for the increase, which would have allowed for a $500 million upgrade to the power infrastructure. The upgrade is needed because some parts of the setup are more than 50 years old. The older equipment is not as efficient as other options, and may be more susceptible to weather damage or other failures that could impact consumers.

The regulator for the province denied the request last week. In the official statement the regulator said that it was, “not sufficiently credible.” Though, to be fair, he did not deny the increase completely, instead limiting them to a smaller increase that could generate $140 million in extra revenue.

The utility, which employs about 1,700, began the mass layoffs with the contractors that have been hired out. Up to 340 of the current employees are also expected to be let go in the near future.

Other major cuts have come to the city of Toronto in the recent past. For those of you who did not catch our earlier coverage here is an excerpt, “In Toronto the layoffs are a coming and the union for the city workers has, as expected, begun to object.

Some of you may remember our earlier coverage of the budgetary issues in Toronto, and their failed voluntary layoff plans that began earlier this year in an attempt to avoid having to do exactly this. The city had hoped that this program would allow them to shed 700 positions, but they were only successful in losing 230 employees in this way. The problem, besides people’s general hesitation to give up a good job, was the fact that many of the positions simply could not be eliminated voluntarily due to regulations governing which services the city must provide.”