Oshawa Power Releases 2018 Performance Results

Oshawa Power Releases 2018 Performance Results

Click here for Oshawa Power’s 2018 OEB Scorecard

Ahead of their Annual General Meeting scheduled for June 13, 2019 Oshawa Power has released their 2018 results for key performance indicators. Oshawa Power strives to continuously excel at meeting their customers’ needs efficiently and accurately. Below is a high level summary of some customer service, public safety and financial health metrics.

New Residential/Small Business Services Connected on Time – In 2018, Oshawa Power connected 99.78% of low-voltage residential and small business customers (those utilizing connections under 750 volts) to its system within the five-day timeline prescribed by the OEB. The industry target is 90%.

Scheduled Appointments Met On Time – Oshawa Power schedules appointments to complete work requested by its customers. OPUCN met 100% of these appointments on time, which significantly exceeds the industry target of 90%.

Telephone Calls Answered On Time – Customer Service representative answered telephone calls within 30 seconds 90.1% of the time. This result exceeds the OEB-mandated 65% target for timely response. OPUCN offers customers 24/7 service through various online forms and interactive voice response tools. This allows us to address the most common customer inquiries and service needs cost-effectively without compromising quality or service excellence.

Billing Accuracy – For 2018 Oshawa Power achieved a bill accuracy measure of 99.93%. This compares favorably to the prescribed OEB target of 98%.

Customer Satisfaction Survey Results – In 2018, Oshawa Power engaged Simul Corporation to conduct a customer satisfaction survey. The findings from the annual survey results are utilized to make enhancements in processes, services and communications strategies throughout the organization. 95% of OPUCN’s customers rated their experience with Oshawa Power as fairly satisfied to very satisfied.

Public Awareness of Electrical Safety – Public Awareness of Electrical Safety, measures the level of awareness of key electrical safety precautions among the public within the electricity distributor’s service territory, and the degree of effectiveness for distributors’ activities on preventing electrical accidents. The OEB requested that all LDCs carry out a survey using the Electrical Safety Authority’s (ESA) approved methodology and pre-formed set of questions, so that a final LDC Awareness Score (bound between 0-100%) can be calculated. The survey resulted in Oshawa Power’s public awareness index score of 85%. In 2018, Oshawa Power has further engaged the public in health and safety awareness by: producing a Hazard Hamlet demonstration during a customer care event; displaying health and safety posters geared towards the six awareness areas of the Electrical Safety survey; and, incorporating a new health and safety webpage on our website.

Serious Electrical Incident Index – Oshawa Power reported no fatalities or other serious incidents due to contact with its infrastructure in 2018, thereby achieving a score of 0.000 for the Serious Electrical Incident Index per 1,000 km of line. Oshawa Power takes public safety in the vicinity of its distribution equipment very seriously, and regularly carries out activities to take prompt corrective action where potential public safety issues are identified.

Average Number of Hours that Power to a Customer is Interrupted – Oshawa Power’s reported Average Number of Hours that Power to a Customer is Interrupted (i.e., duration excluding loss of supply) is 1.34 hours per customer.

Average Number of Times that Power to a Customer is Interrupted – Oshawa Power’s reported Average Number of Times that Power to a Customer is Interrupted (i.e., frequency excluding loss of supply) for 2018 is 1.29. times per customer.

Conservation and Demand Management – Under the 2015 to 2020 Conservation First Framework, Oshawa Power was assigned an energy savings target of 73 GWh. The achievement of this energy efficiency target is governed via an Energy Conservation Agreement (ECA). The IESO periodically issues updates to the ECA and Oshawa Power regularly commits to the updated terms. Oshawa Power’s net cumulative total energy savings for the CFF as of December 31, 2018 is 59.14 GWh, or 81% of the multi-year target. At the half-way point in the framework, Oshawa Power is well-positioned to achieve or exceed our 2020 conservation targets.

Liquidity: Current Ratio (Current Assets/Current Liabilities) – The current ratio is an indicator of a company’s ability to repay its short term debts and financial obligations. Companies with a ratio of greater than 1 are often referred to as being “liquid”. Generally, the higher the number, the more “liquid” and the larger the margin of safety to cover the company’s short-term debts and financial obligations. Oshawa Power’s current ratio for 2018 is 1.07. Oshawa Power monitors and manages its liquidity risk to ensure access to sufficient funds to meet operational and investing requirements.

Leverage: Total Debt (includes short-term and long-term debt) to Equity Ratio – The OEB uses a deemed capital structure of 60% debt, 40% equity for electricity distributors when establishing rates. This deemed capital mix is equal to a debt to equity ratio of 1.5 (60/40). A debt to equity ratio of more than 1.5 indicates that a distributor is more highly levered than the deemed capital structure. A high debt to equity ratio may indicate that an electricity distributor may have difficulty generating sufficient cash flows to make its debt payments. A debt to equity ratio of less than 1.5 indicates that the distributor is less levered than the deemed capital structure. Oshawa Power’s debt to equity ratio for 2018 was 1.21. Oshawa Power continues to be below the OEB’s deemed capital structure, as the trend from 2013 to 2018 illustrates a debt to equity ratio of less than 1.5.

Profitability: Regulatory Return on Equity – Deemed (included in rates) Oshawa Power’s current distribution rates were approved by the OEB and include an expected regulatory return on equity (ROE) of 9.19%, which is based on the OEB’s deemed capital structure of 60% debt and 40% equity as noted earlier. The OEB allows a distributor to earn within +/- 3% of the expected return on equity. When a distributor performs outside of this range, the actual performance may trigger a regulatory review of the distributor’s revenues and costs structure by the OEB. The regulated return for the year 2018 decreases to 9.00%.

Profitability: Regulatory Return on Equity – Achieved Oshawa Power’s ROE for 2018 was 7.47%, compared with a regulatory ROE of 9.00% for the same period. For 2018, OPUCN earned a lower return than the approved rate, however; results are within the expected ROE set out by the OEB.

NOTE TO READERS: THE ABOVE RESULTS ARE PRELIMINARY AND VERIFIED INTERNALLY BY OSHAWA POWER STAFF AND HAVE NOT BEEN SUBJECT TO AN AUDIT PROCESS. OFFICIAL RESULTS WILL BE PUBLISHED ON THE OEB WEBSITE IN SEPTEMBER.

Oshawa Power 2018 Results