Category: News Alerts

Oshawa Power strives to bring the best customer service to our customers.  As we plan and improve the overall customer service currently offered we would like to hear from you about your experience.  We actively use feedback to constantly improve our delivery and provide you with the best possible service.  So we can provide you an even better experience we are collecting feedback on how we performed in your contact with us.

Oshawa Power has introduced a Customer Service Satisfaction (CSAT) survey that integrates with our telephone system.  In your next phone call to us you will be offered an opportunity to answer a quick 2 question survey at the end of the call which provides us immediate feedback.  Your feedback will let us know areas that we are excelling and areas that we need development.  We encourage you to use this service and help us to deliver the best customer service.

Thank you

Oshawa Power

Customer Service Team

Oshawa Power is proud to be this year’s winner of Hexagon SI’s 2018 Safety and Infrastructure’s Innovation Award for our Outage Management system.

Oshawa Power’s Outage Management System connects existing utility technology AMI, SCADA, CIS and GIS to identify outages, predict outages,  and communicate outages.  With the focus on improving reliability, reducing outage times and improving customer communications our team along with Hexagon’s collaborated together to provide the customers of Oshawa with better service and reliability.  Part of this project is deploying Intelligent Switches, sectionalizing areas with defective equipment and restoring as many customers in many cases before 1 minute.  Oshawa Power uses real data from AMI meter outage messages (outage/restore) timestamps as our benchmark for when the outage starts and ends.

This is a significant achievement, crew response time improved, dramatic increases in our reliability, notification from our OMS was accurate, and communicating the outages to our outage map, IVR system and social media was seamless all as a result of good engineering and system network analysis.

In 2017 we sent out approximately 250 tweets with power outage details and our social media audience grew 27% and 18% for Facebook and Twitter respectively as a result of informative outage notification posts.   The predictive dialer called 42,000 customers in 2017 to inform them of power outages in their area.

Historically only 5%-10% of total outages would be planned.  Planned outages are mainly to perform infrastructure maintenance and preventative upgrades to avoid any unplanned outages.  Planned outages are preferred as the utility can plan their resources in a more efficient manner and the outage duration is kept to a minimum.  Unplanned outages are time consuming as crews with the assistance of Operations have to patrol first to identify location and cause of the outage before being able to repair.  In 2017 with the OMS fully functional we reported to have 61% planned outages and with the accuracy of the system unplanned outage duration was drastically reduced with the elimination of patrolling since the system can direct the crews to the device causing the outage.

These achievements were not done by investing in new technology platforms but by utilizing existing platforms and resources available and make them work for us to improve service and reliability for the customers of Oshawa.   Currently we are the only utility that automatically dispatches crews based on the OMS without the involvement of an operator.  This allows us to deliver more to our customers for the same cost. Oshawa Power is proud to be leading the industry with forward-thinking, customer-focused approaches!

About Hexagon

Hexagon is a leading global provider of information technologies that drive productivity and quality across geospatial and industrial enterprise applications.  Hexagon’s solutions integrate sensors, software, domain knowledge and customer workflows into intelligent information ecosystems that deliver actionable information. They are used in a broad range of vital industries.

 

Some customers affected by billing delay

Please be advised, electricity invoices for customers who normally receive their monthly bills between the 16th and 31st will be delayed for January.  We fully expect to have the situation remedied very soon and all January bills are expected to be delivered no later than February 8th.  Affected customers will receive invoices for only the delayed billing period however, due to the delay, some of those customers may receive two invoices in the month of February. Overdue service charges will be waived and there will be no interruption of service resulting for a period of time to accommodate the billing delays. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your patience.

Oshawa residents will soon have the opportunity to choose different programs and billing options for their electricity after the Oshawa Power and Utilities Corporation was chosen to be part of a new pilot project from the Ontario Energy Board.

The OPUC, along with providers in Barrie, York Region and London, representing approximately 18,000 customers, will have new options for tailoring hydro billing programs to customers. The new program are likened to the “pick and pay” options now available for some television cable packages.

“We’re excited by it, it was a competitive process to sort of win the favour of the Ontario Energy Board to actually do these trials,” says Ivano Labricciosa, the president and CEO of the OPUC.

Aiming to start in the spring of 2018, Labricciosa says Oshawa residents will have the option to sign up for a pair of pick and pay programs. The first, labelled as a seasonal time of use program will allow residents to have two time-of-use (TOU) periods in the summer and winter while paying a flat rate in spring and fall, or a super peak time of use program which allows for a simplified two-price plan combined with a “super peak” period on weekday afternoons.

For Labricciosa, the new programs offer the opportunity for residents to find a program that suits their lifestyle.

“No one is going to change their lifestyle to shoehorn in a plan, I like to think this is the other way around,” he says. “It’s us figuring out what plan works best for you and helps you develop an envelope.”

Currently, the OPUC is looking for 2,000 customers to sign up for the pilot program, following which they will analyze existing information to see if the household is a good fit.

“We’re trying to use the intelligence to figure out how people are using energy, whether these prospective price plans, or other ones, will be better for them in meeting the customer needs,” Labricciosa says, noting that right now, it’s unclear how affective the programs will be in terms of savings. “It’s a trial, so much like anything else, nobody knows the answers yet. We’re trying to get people to participate, it’s kind of a no-risk trial.”

The OPUC advises that they will be posting further information once it becomes available on their website and state that Oshawa residents interested in taking part in the program can call OPUC customer service at 905-723-4623.

As early as the end of June 2016, your mail delivery may be interrupted or delayed by a possible labour disruption at Canada Post.  While this labour disruption may be delayed or avoided at any time, here are some important things to keep in mind as it pertains to your Oshawa PUC Networks bill:

1. You are still responsible for paying your bill by the payment due date. To avoid potential late payment charges, make the switch to eBilling to receive your monthly bill by email notification when your bill is ready.  Visit http://opuc.on.ca/residential/ebill/

2. Even though your bill won’t be delivered by mail, you can still login to download or print a PDF copy of your bill at any time at https://ecareets.opuc.on.ca/myDSM/login.asp

3. Because Canada Post will not be making deliveries during a labour disruption, we will be unable to accept payment by mail. For payment options visit http://opuc.on.ca/residential/bill-information/payment-options/.  This same information can be found on the back of your electricity bill under Payment Methods.

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A new program is starting in 2016 that will help low-income consumers to pay their electricity bills.

1. What is OESP?
2. Do I Qualify?
3. How Do I Apply?
4. Sign up to be notified when applications are ready

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*If you have not filed an income tax return recently, or your situation has changed since your last filing you can contact The John Howard Society located at 75 Richmond St. W. in Oshawa, 905-579-8482 for assistance.

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The application period for the Solar Storage Pilot Program has come to an end, and we are no longer accepting new applications at this time.

While OPUCES ultimately reserves the right to determine who will be accepted into the program, we will be reviewing the qualified applicants on a first come first reviewed basis. An OPUCES representative will visit the home to further verify the eligibility. A final list will be prepared and home owners will be notified.

Oshawa PUC Energy Services Inc. has partnered with the New Energy and Industrial Development Organization to bring a Solar Energy Storage and Management System (SEMS) pilot program to Oshawa. This pilot program will include the harvest, usage, and storage of solar energy in 30 residential homes. Each home will be fitted with solar panels, a battery, and an inverter. The SEMS will be able to provide enough energy for the usage of the average household. Excess energy will be stored in the battery or fed back into the Oshawa PUC distribution grid per the Government of Ontario’s net-metering program.

This pilot program will run at no cost to the homeowner. This pilot program will run at no cost to the homeowner. To participate, home owners may find more information including recruitment and application details at www.oshawapower.ca or visit the OPUCES office at 100 Simcoe St. S, Oshawa.

 

[gdlr_button href=”frequently-asked-questions-faqs/” target=”_self” size=”medium” background=”#00afeb” color=”#ffffff”]FAQs[/gdlr_button]
[gdlr_button href=”overview/” target=”_self” size=”medium” background=”#00afeb” color=”#ffffff”]Overview[/gdlr_button]
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OPUC and its employees continue a proud tradition of supporting worthy causes in the community

Throughout 2015, the corporation is putting a special focus on providing support for organizations that assist people in need. The company matched employee donations to various charity efforts including the Port Perry Hospital Foundation and relief efforts following the crisis in Nepal. The company also provided donations to the 13th Annual Oshawa Mayor’s Golf Classic in support of the Oshawa Community Health Centre as well as the Lakeridge Health Foundation Golf Classic in support of the Lakeridge Health Foundation.

For the third year, OPUC’s team of enthusiastic employees raised $2400 by climbing aboard The Big Bike on June 24, 2015 to cycle through downtown Oshawa in The Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada’s Ride for Heart.

** Warning – Please read carefully **

OPUCN would like to caution our customers to be aware of a scam which may involve someone calling you or visiting you to claim that your electricity bill is overdue and that your payments were misapplied to the wrong account and/or that your service will be disconnected if you don’t immediately pay through a pre-paid credit card or wire transfer. In some situations they are asking customers to repay their account and will issue a refund from the account where the payment was misapplied.

OPUCN notifies customers of outstanding balances ONLY through an automated phone call or hand delivered notice and customers are given time to make overdue payments.

If you receive a call of this nature, please contact the Durham Regional Fraud Unit at 905-579-1520.