2025 Annual Report

In good hands.

More than 130 years serving the City of Oshawa.

From our leadership

A message from the top.

Denise Carpenter, Board Chair

Outgoing Board Chair

Denise Carpenter

"Our incoming Chair, Robert Watson, brings decades of experience and is well equipped to continue this trajectory and support management in navigating through the energy transition."
Read the full letter
Daniel Arbour, President & CEO

President & CEO

Daniel Arbour

"Through asset renewal, grid modernization, and the development of a highly skilled workforce, we are ensuring our local grid will always remain in good hands."
Read the full letter

By the numbers

Our grid at a glance.

63,630
Customers served
99.99%
Reliability score
35 min
Average yearly downtime
40%
Of customers experienced zero outages
145 km²
Service territory
9
Municipal substations
425 MW
Station capacity
247.8 MW
Peak demand served

Reliable by design

In good hands, the lights stay on.

Our 99.99% reliability score is the product of years of planned investment, proactive maintenance, and smart grid automation. When outages do occur, our team responds fast.

35 min
Average yearly downtime — 63% less than the Ontario average

Average yearly downtime (minutes)

Oshawa Power
35 min
Ontario avg.
~95 min
29 min
Average outage response time — a 17% improvement over 2024
29 min ~35 min
2025 2024
Oshawa Power technician in orange PPE at a station control and relay panel

Infrared Scanning

Each winter we scan the entire grid with infrared cameras, flagging heat anomalies that signal component degradation before failure can occur.

Porcelain Replacement

153 porcelain insulators replaced in 2025 with modern hydrophobic polymer alternatives, reducing outage risk from weather effects and contamination.

Tree Trimming

Our territory is divided into three zones. One zone is comprehensively trimmed each year in partnership with utility arborists, on a three-year cycle.

FLISR Automation

40% of our grid can automatically detect, isolate, and reroute around faults. In 2025 we completed SCADA integration across our full 44kV network.

Rehan Ansari

People Spotlight

Rehan Ansari

Senior Distribution Engineer

Rehan serves as the liaison between our control room, stations team, and engineering, ensuring the people responsible for keeping Oshawa's grid running are always aligned. His expertise in power system analysis, protection and control, and distribution automation keeps our most critical systems performing reliably. Despite the depth of experience he brings, Rehan remains as curious and committed to learning as ever.

Planning for what's ahead

Good stewardship looks forward.

2025 marked the end of our current five-year planning cycle. We filed our next Cost of Service application with the Ontario Energy Board, outlining our investment priorities and rates through 2030.

1,050
New and upgraded customer connections
11.8 MW
Grid-connected distributed energy resources
23
New subdivisions under planning

EV registrations in Oshawa

168%

Increase in adoption since 2022

3,000 2,000 1,000 0 991 1,200 1,800 2,657 2022 2023 2024 2025

Cost of Service Filing

We filed our next five-year plan with the Ontario Energy Board covering 2026 to 2030. The OEB is expected to set new rates by June 2026.

Distribution System Operator Pilot

With $400,000 from Natural Resources Canada, we are piloting a local DSO model to coordinate distributed energy resources and keep costs down for customers.

$400K NRCan Grant

Non-Wires Solutions

We submitted four proposals for alternatives to traditional grid investment, using demand response, energy storage, and local generation to serve growing demand at lower cost.

EV Infrastructure

We secured a $100,000 grant from Natural Resources Canada to install 20 new EV chargers in 2026, removing barriers to adoption across the city.

$100K NRCan Grant

Financial performance

Balancing affordability.

Each five-year cost of service filing requires balancing necessary grid modernization investments with affordable rates for residential and commercial customers across Oshawa.

Our focus on operational efficiency means every dollar invested in our grid goes further. In 2025, this discipline produced a Capital Efficiency Ratio of 1.29 — for each dollar invested, $1.29 of in-service assets are connected to the grid.

Oshawa Power's 5-year average Cost per km of Line and Cost per Customer register 4.4% and 14.8% lower than the Ontario average, further demonstrating how our investment philosophy benefits both the strength of our grid and the affordability of our service.

4.4%

Below Ontario avg.

Cost per km of Line*

$24,999 $26,132
Oshawa Power Ontario Avg.
14.8%

Below Ontario avg.

Cost per Customer*

$660 $766
Oshawa Power Ontario Avg.

*Based on 5-year average cost

Serving our city

In good hands, help is always close.

84.5%

Customer satisfaction score (CSAT)

New Customer Information SystemLaunched in 2025, reducing manual steps and improving accuracy across billing and service requests.
Improved IVR phone serviceCustomers can access their account balance, last bill, and due date 24/7 without waiting for an agent.
SMS account notificationsCustomers can opt in to receive billing reminders, account updates, and outage notices by text.
57% eBilling Enrollment 5% 2025 YoY Increase
Steven Murray

People Spotlight

Steven Murray

Integration and Automation Architect

When Oshawa Power launched its new Customer Information System in 2025, customers noticed the improvements. Working behind the scenes, Steven was instrumental in mapping and testing the systems that made the transition seamless, ensuring thousands of customer accounts moved to the new platform without disruption. His work laid the groundwork for the automation capabilities that will continue to improve the customer experience for years to come.

Community involvement

Part of a healthy community.

  • $20,000 raised for Hearth Place Cancer Support Centre At our first Oshawa Power Charity Classic golf tournament in June.
  • 115 Remembrance Day banners Erected in downtown Oshawa for the ninth consecutive year with the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 43.
  • Girls in STEM Day Two of our engineers spoke at Durham College about their careers, sharing what a path in engineering looks like for young women.
  • Hazard Hamlet electrical safety Education reached more than 1,000 children across classroom visits and community events in 2025.
Oshawa Power President and CEO Daniel Arbour and Director of People and Culture Renee McFarland present a $20,000 cheque to Hearth Place Cancer Centre
Powerline Technician Cody Petrie erects a banner honouring local veteran Roy Foster.

Inside our organization

The hands behind the work.

1.5M

Work hours without a Lost-Time Injury — over nine consecutive years

Recognized by the IHSA in 2025. One of only four Ontario LDCs with COR certification.

COR Certified — IHSA Certificate of Recognition
108
Full-time employees
1,116
Hours of training in 2025
100%
Safety audit compliance
Working on an electricity distribution system is inherently dangerous. Our team works with high-voltage lines and heavy machinery on major roadways, in all weather conditions. Our safety record is not an accident. It reflects the dedication, discipline, and genuine care for people within Oshawa Power.
Zach

People Spotlight

Zach Gower

Apprentice Powerline Technician

Zach joined our team as a co-op student in 2024, bringing a fresh perspective and a willingness to learn that made an impression from day one. In 2026, he will join the Oshawa Power team in a full-time position as an apprentice Powerline Technician. Developing the next generation of skilled tradespeople from within our own community goes beyond workforce planning. It is how we ensure our grid will always be in good hands.

The full story is in good hands.

Reliability, growth planning, customer service, and safety. The 2025 Annual Report covers all of it. Download the full PDF to read the complete story of how Oshawa Power served our city this year.

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