When Entegrus customers don't pay their hydro bills, that has an impact on how much other customers end up paying for electricity.
And according to a recent report from the Ontario Energy Board, Entegrus wrote off a little over $200,000 worth of unpaid bills at the end of 2015.
Entegrus' director of corporate services Gary Symons says that expense is a factor in determining how much they are able to charge the rest of their customers for electricity.
"All of Entegrus' costs are captured and organized in a fashion that when we go into the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) for our rate applications, they take all of our costs," says Symons. "Once all of the questions are asked and answered, Entegrus receives back an approved rate application from the OEB."
Symons says customers who struggle to pay off their debts have an increasing number of supports available, adding the company continues to work with agencies like the Salvation Army to make sure people can afford to pay for their basic utilities.
Those supports include the Ontario Electricity Support Program, the Low Income Energy Assistance program, and the Arrears Management program, which is geared toward taking arrears that low-income people can't pay and spreading them out over a longer period of time.
