London Hydro hopes to create affiliate company and offer more services

London Hydro hopes to reorganize the corporation so that it can explore additional business opportunities.

London Hydro officials are proposing a new entity to pursue other non-regulated business opportunities later this month.

“We’re excited to be going in front of the council on August 12th, SPC, to talk about the opportunity to create an affiliate company that would run alongside London Hydro,” said Ysni Semsedini, London Hydro CEO.

Officials said this potential affiliate would explore new areas in technology.

“It might be locates, they can do generation activities or transmission,” said Semsedini.

If approved, it would compete in the retail energy market, offering services not available under the regulated framework.

“We’ve seen great examples across the province of people using these affiliates to really drive economic development in their region,” said Semsedini.

According to company officials, this would improve customer experience and potentially lower costs.

London Mayor Josh Morgan said he is open to the idea.

“It is structured in a way that protects the city’s ownership over the current London hydro assets and it allows for the flexibility to make the kind of investments that other municipalities are already making,” said Morgan.

He said the biggest risk is missing an opportunity.

“Its something that if we don’t actually consider this we’re going to fall behind what others are doing,” said Morgan. “We’re going to miss out on potential revenues that are out there that could be generating.”

Morgan said if council approves, there will be a number of steps needed to take place before things progress.

“The first step is really talking to council which is the shareholder of London Hydro and decide if this is something we want to do,” said Morgan.