Alectra Incorporated, through its subsidiary Alectra Utilities Corporation, is an electricity utility and

distributor A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark p ...

that serves several municipalities in the

Golden Horseshoe The Golden Horseshoe is a secondary region of Southern Ontario, Canada, which lies at the western end of Lake Ontario, with outer boundaries stretching south to Lake Erie and north to Lake Scugog, Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. The ...

region of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. It is a municipally owned corporation with shares in varying amounts held by the municipalities which owned its predecessor companies. When it was founded, Alectra was described as the second largest municipally-owned electricity utility in North America after the

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the largest municipal utility in the United States with 8,100 megawatts of electric generating capacity (2021-2022) and delivering an average of 435 million gallons of water per day to more ...

. As of January 2019 it is the largest municipally-owned electricity utility in Canada, by number of customers served.

Formation and expansion

Alectra was formed on January 31, 2017 by the merger of the municipally-owned utilities Enersource (serving Mississauga), Horizon Utilities (serving Hamilton and

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontario ...

), and PowerStream (serving portions of York Region and

Simcoe County Simcoe County is located in the central portion of Southern Ontario, Canada. The county is just north of the Greater Toronto Area, stretching from the shores of Lake Simcoe in the east to Georgian Bay in the west. Simcoe County forms part of ...

). The initial formation of the company was completed with the acquisition of Hydro One Brampton from the provincial government's Hydro One on February 28, 2017. Guelph Hydro (serving

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Well ...

and Rockwood) merged into Alectra on January 1, 2019. Following its formation, Alectra continued to hold the 50% ownership stake formerly held by PowerStream in Collus PowerStream (which services

Collingwood Collingwood, meaning "wood of disputed ownership", may refer to: Educational institutions * Collingwood College, Victoria, an Australian state Prep to Year 12 school * Collingwood College, Durham, college of Durham University, England * Collingw ...

and surrounding area) until 2017. Alectra announced on November 9, 2017 that it was selling its ownership stake in Collus PowerStream back to the Town of Collingwood, with the Town announcing that it was selling Collus PowerStream to EPCOR Utilities.

Corporate organization

The company is governed by a 14-member board of directors representing the municipalities and other shareholders which owned its predecessor companies. Municipal representatives make up 13 of those directors, consisting of: 4 directors from Mississauga, 3 from

Vaughan Vaughan () (2021 population 323,103) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto. Vaughan was the fastest-growing municipality in Canada between 1996 and 2006 with its population increas ...

, 2 from Hamilton, 2 from Markham, 1 from

Barrie Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically i ...

, 1 from

, and 1 from

. Employees of Alectra's predecessor companies had previously been represented by the

Power Workers' Union Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may ...

, the

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a labor union that represents approximately 775,000 workers and retirees in the electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Guam, Panama, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Island ...

, and Unifor. Following a vote on June 28, 2017 the majority of unionized employees of Alectra and its subsidiaries agreed to be represented solely by the Power Workers' Union.

Service area

Single-tier municipalities

* Hamilton

Niagara Region

Peel Region

Brampton Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it the ...

* Mississauga

Simcoe County

* Alliston *

Beeton Beeton is a small community located in southern Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada between Tottenham and Alliston; all three were amalgamated in 1991 into the single Town of New Tecumseth. Beeton was named for a local apiary. Formerly known as Cl ...

Bradford West Gwillimbury Bradford West Gwillimbury is a town in south-central Ontario, in the County of Simcoe in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area on the Holland River. West Gwillimbury takes its name from the family of Elizabeth Simcoe, née ''Gwillim''. The former ...

* Penetanguishene * Thornton *

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Walthams ...

Wellington County

* Rockwood

York Region

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

* Markham * Richmond Hill *

Notes

References

External links

* {{official, http://www.alectrautilities.com 2017 establishments in Ontario Companies based in Mississauga Canadian companies established in 2017 Companies owned by municipalities of Canada Electric power companies of Canada Municipal government of Barrie Municipal government of Mississauga Municipal government of Hamilton, Ontario Municipal government of Guelph Municipal government of St. Catharines OMERS companies