Service Restored Notice
Please be advised that all IT systems are again running and operations are back to normal. Telephone and email communications are fully functional. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and thank you for your patience during this interruption.
Oshawa Power
Please be advised that we are experiencing temporary IT network connectivity issues. As a result, full functionality of our telephone system, email system, and internet access have been impaired. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your patience as our team works to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Restoration is expected this afternoon.
Oshawa Area Telephone Soliciting
Oshawa Power has received reports in our Customer Service department that some local customers have received fraudulent phone calls claiming to be calling from Oshawa Power. These phone calls are recorded messages claiming there is a power surge in their neighbourhood and as a result they must come visit the home. Oshawa Power can confirm that we are not executing any outbound phone calls to our customers at this time and this third party is misrepresenting themselves. If you have any question please do not hesitate to contact us at 905-723-4623 or contact us .
On November 28, 2017 Oshawa Power hosted a public open house, Customer Connect Centre, at the Oshawa Civic Complex. This open house was the first of its kind that Oshawa Power has held in over 30 years. Employees set up information booths of topics spanning right across the company. This was an opportunity for customers to come visit us to learn about the utility’s technology, safety procedures, growth plans, conservation initiatives, our 130 year history, renewable energy programs and customer service billing and programs. It was also an opportunity for our employees to engage one on one with our customers and have a conversation to educate and address any questions.
With hands on opportunities to test some technology and equipment, an ongoing visual display of Oshawa Power’s history and the many literature resources and subject matter experts on hand attendees had much to look at while the kids made use of the colouring table, a free face painter and the star of the evening “Zapper” the safety dog.
It was an evening of fellowship amongst employees and with our customers that was educational and entertaining. We would like to thank everyone who came out to visit us and we look forward to hosting more open house events in 2018. Stay tuned for details.
Thank you
The Oshawa Power Team
On October 17 2017 Durham-based electric utilities Oshawa PUC Networks Inc., Veridian Connections and Whitby Hydro, along with Hydro One, Enbridge and Union Gas, are hosting Powering Up Durham – Save on Energy Symposium to recognize local businesses for their conservation leadership and provide a platform for participants to share industry best practices.
The morning started off by listening to innovative energy conservation success stories from local businesses who are the recipients of this year’s Powering Up Durham awards.
Powering Up Durham Save on Energy Symposium brought together over 40 local exhibitors and industry professionals from across the area, and the break-out sessions offered rapid-fire discussion and insightful workshops. This was perfect opportunity to for businesses to interact with energy experts from the local electric and gas companies. The day ended with a detailed CHP tour at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.
In 2017, the Oshawa Power and Utilities Corporation is looking back at its history after the first power switch was flipped in the city, 130 years ago, on September 12, 1887. (Photos courtesy of the OPUC)
By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express
While the name may have changed over the years, the purpose has not, and for that reason, the Oshawa Power and Utilities Corporation is celebrating the 130 year mark since the switch was flipped on power in the city of Oshawa.
The date was September 12, 1887, and after a group of early businessmen and entrepreneurs in E.S. Edmonson, J.L. Guy and K.L. Murton got together to form the Oshawa Electric Company, they flipped on the lights for the first time in the small city of Oshawa, bringing to life 15 light posts and power for a few nearby businesses.
“The way we look at it is, all the successor companies are part of that history,” says Ivano Labricciosa, the president and CEO of the OPUC. “Serving electricity and power to the citizens of Oshawa has been around since the 1800s.”
Originally, that power was operated in conjunction with the local flour mill, which previously sat on Lawrence Street, just south of Mill Street. For the most part, the original power was sourced from steam and augmented by a small water power plant powered by a dam in the Oshawa Creek.
At that time, power was only available during the nighttime hours between dusk and dawn, and sometimes, if the moon was bright enough, the power would be left off.
Tragedy struck in 1892 when the flour mill was destroyed in a fire. The power plant was eventually rebuilt, and then sold to the Stark Electric Co. out of Toronto. This phased in a new era for Oshawa’a lights as the arc lights were replaced with incandescent bulbs, upping Oshawa’s electric load to 600 kilowatts and serving approximately 400 customers.
It wasn’t until 1911, that power would be made available 24 hours a day, costing residents approximately 15 cents per kilowatt hour.
In 1929, the first iteration of what would eventually become the OPUC was formed when a bylaw was passed by city council to purchase the electrical system at a cost of $310,000. The council also purchased the gas distribution network at the same time for $210,000. The year after, the first Public Utilities Commission was elected from the population of 25,000 people calling Oshawa home.
And the Oshawa power company has not always been in the business of power.
In 1959, after CN Rail stopped operating the city’s bus system, it was left to the PUC to operate after council authorized the purchase of the system, along with 21 buses, for $20,000. Also, in 1970, the OPUC began offering billing services to other entities, upping their production of paper bills to about 27,000 per month, 14,000 of which were for Oshawa, and 13,000 for other utilities.
Through the OPUC’s old computer dubbed “Hilda” they offered data services to other municipalities and even operated the city’s municipal election in 1970.
For Labricciosa and his team, branching out is nothing strange to them, having invested in both a fibre optic network in Durham, and solar energy management projects in recent years. However, it was interesting for him to see that this diversification is something the OPUC has always done.
In particular, last year saw the OPUC took over the operation and management of Regent Park Energy Inc. in downtown Toronto, which provides the heating and cooling network to the 18 buildings that make up Regent Park, Canada’s largest social housing project.
“We always had this notion that we did services for other utilities,” Labricciosa says. “It’s got a lot of touch points to today’s issues.”
