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

distributor A distributor is an electric and mechanical device used in the ignition system of older spark-ignition engines. The distributor's main function is to route electricity from the ignition coil to each spark plug at the correct time. Design ...

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. T ...

region of

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. 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 Public utility, utility in the United States with 8,100 megawatts of electric generating capacity (2021–2022) and delivering an average of 435 million gallons of wat ...

. 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 Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

), Horizon Utilities (serving

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

and

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the most populous city in Canada's Niagara Region, the eighth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2021, St. Catharines has an area of and 136,803 residents. It lies in Southern Ontario, south of Toronto ac ...

), and PowerStream which served Aurora, Alliston, Barrie, Beeton, Bradford West Gwillimbury, Penetanguishene, Markham, Richmond Hill, Thornton, Tottenham and Vaughan. The initial formation of the company was completed with the acquisition of Hydro One Brampton from the provincial government's

Hydro One Hydro One Limited is an Electric power transmission, electricity transmission and distribution Electric utility, utility serving the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Hydro One traces its history to the early 2 ...

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, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...

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 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. On January 5, 2021, Alectra acquired power restoration company Holland Power Services based in Maugerville, New Brunswick. Holland Power Services operates throughout the east coast of Canada and the United States and has 5 locations: 1 in

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

(headquarters), 2 in Ontario, 1 in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, and 1 in Maine, USA. On June 10, 2024, Alectra announced their acquisition of another power restoration company, Gagnon Line Construction, based in Grand Falls/Grand Sault, New Brunswick. Gagnon Line Construction has two locations: 1 in New Brunswick, and 1 in Quebec. The acquisition of both Holland Power Services and Gagnon Line Construction makes Alectra the largest storm restoration company in Eastern Canada.

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

, 3 from

Vaughan Vaughan ( ) (2022 population 344,412) 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 increa ...

, 2 from

, 2 from Markham, 1 from

Barrie Barrie is a city in Central Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay. Although it is physically in the county, Barrie is politically independent. The city is part ...

, 1 from

, and 1 from

. Employees of Alectra's predecessor companies had previously been represented by the Power Workers' Union, the

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a trade union, labor union that represents approximately 820,000 workers and retirees in the electricity, electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Guam, Panama, Puerto Rico, an ...

, and

Unifor Unifor is a Canadian general trade union founded in 2013 as a merger of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and Communications, Energy and Paperworkers unions. It consists of 310,000 workers, and associate members in industries including manufactu ...

. 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

Niagara Region

Peel Region

Brampton Brampton is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...

Simcoe County

* Alliston * Beeton *

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

* Penetanguishene * Thornton *

Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...

Wellington County

* Rockwood

York Region

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

* Markham * Richmond Hill *

Notes

References

External links

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