Hydro Ottawa, Hydro Toronto Earn EEI Emergency Recovery Awards

Jan 21, 2019

The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) has presented Hydro Ottawa and Hydro Toronto with the association’s “Emergency Recovery Award” for outstanding power restoration efforts in 2018.

The Emergency Recovery Award recognizes extraordinary efforts to restore power to customers after service disruptions caused by severe weather conditions or other natural events. The winners are chosen by a panel of judges following an international nomination process.

On September 21, an EF-3 and an EF-2 tornado hit the City of Ottawa causing extensive damage, resulting in 171,462 service outages in Hydro Ottawa’s territory. Hydro Ottawa crews restored service to 100% of customers within four days after the storm, dedicating 3,824.5 man-hours to the recovery.

“Our employees are our greatest strength,” says Hydro Ottawa President and Chief Executive Officer Bryce Conrad. “Faced with the largest power outage in the company’s history, they banded together and worked tirelessly to bring power back across our city.”

Toronto Hydro earned the award for quick work following a series of storms in spring 2018.

EEI represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies, more than 65 international electric companies, and hundreds of industry suppliers and related organizations.