Hydro One Earns Two Emergency Response Awards

June 18, 2018

The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) has presented Hydro One with an emergency recovery award for its outstanding work responding to the mid-April ice storm that caused power outages for nearly 500,000 customers. The company also received an EEI assistance award for supporting two utility companies after devastating nor’easter storms Riley and Quinn hit the northeast U.S. in March, 2018.

Representing the sixth and seventh awards Hydro One has received from EEI, this recognition demonstrates the company’s growing reputation for industry-leading emergency response. EEI is the association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies. Members provide electricity for 220 million people.

“These awards demonstrate the breadth of Hydro One’s commitment to delivering outstanding and safe service when restoring power to customers in a crisis – at home or abroad,” says Greg Kiraly, Chief Operating Officer, Hydro One. “Our crews take great pride in the work they do and understand that their skills and expertise are what is needed during a crisis. This is why they won’t stop until every last customer is reconnected.”

The awards are presented to EEI member companies for outstanding emergency response efforts and providing assistance to other electric companies following severe weather conditions or other natural events. Winners were chosen by a panel of judges following an international nomination process.

On March 2, 2018, Hydro One received an official request for assistance from Baltimore Gas and Electric in Hanover, Maryland and Eversource in Hyannis, Massachusetts. More than 175 employees and over 100 vehicles and pieces of equipment headed south across the border. Hydro One crews travelled up to 600 km to join the restoration effort and did not stop working until their support was no longer needed nine days later. Hydro One’s skilled and hardworking team helped to restore power to millions of residents left in the dark following the back-to-back winter storms.

Southern Ontario was then hit by a winter storm on April 14, 2018 that brought ice, wind and snow causing widespread damage and knocking out power to nearly a half million Hydro One customers. Despite the severity of the storm, Hydro One was able to mobilize more than 1,400 front-line staff to restore power to all affected customers in only four days. The speed of recovery set a new company record for major storm response and was made possible thanks to the focused energy of all staff involved, a more proactive approach to storm restoration and a new weather monitoring and prediction tool enabling the company to position crews in the expected path of the storm.

Hydro One has reciprocal agreements in place with North American utilities to provide assistance during significant power outages.