Westario Power is moving ahead with plans to sell the local utility to ERTH Corporation, in a deal its board says is designed to handle growing electricity demand while protecting customers and staff.
"We are confident this sale will benefit our customers, employees and the communities we serve by making sure the utility can meet the demands of electrification, growth and climate change," Board chair and Saugeen Shores mayor Luke Charbonneau said.
He added the board "had the opportunity to take our time and carefully consider many options… before determining that a sale to ERTH would be the right choice for our staff, customers and shareholders."
Westario says, if approved, the sale will protect all existing jobs, keep customer rates rising only at the rate of inflation, maintain current response times for outages, and keep the Walkerton administration and operations facility as the central hub for the service territory. ERTH also plans to expand a 24/7 remote control room to help shorten outages across the region.
President and CEO Walter Malcolm stressed the board set strict conditions before agreeing to the deal. "We did not make this decision lightly," he said. "We had some non-negotiables in terms of a sale. We had to be sure that customer rates would be kept at existing levels and that our high level of service would be maintained. One thing was critical, we needed to protect the jobs of our highly-skilled Westario staff."
For customers, Westario says little will change in the near term: billing will remain under the Westario name, and local line and office staff will stay in place. The sale still requires shareholder approval and must pass the Ontario Energy Board’s “no harm” test to ensure it doesn’t lead to higher costs or reduced service quality.
