Utilities Kingston is holding a town hall meeting to seek input from its electricity customers on a five-year electricity distribution plan that will help determine the company’s priorities and rates between 2016 and 2020. The meeting will take place Friday, March 27 at 1:30 p.m., at the Seniors Centre, 56 Francis St.

At the town hall, consumers are invited to provide feedback on the reliability of the Kingston Hydro electricity distribution system and the spending decisions Utilities Kingston will make over the next five years.

The plan highlights major issues the utility is looking to address, including:

• Replacing aging infrastructure that is at, or past, the anticipated end-of-life
• Replacing infrastructure with smarter and faster system operations to enable quicker restoration of power during outages
• Replacing aging infrastructure in co-ordination with other municipal infrastructure projects to reduce costs and minimize disruption to customers

All feedback collected will be included with Kingston Hydro’s application to its regulator, the Ontario Energy Board, as part of the rate-setting process. Focus groups are also being conducted with the company’s institutional, commercial and residential customers; and a community Twitter discussion is planned for early April.

At the town hall, Nancy Taylor, vice president of Utilities Kingston will lead a discussion on electricity projects and invite input from customers. Following the talk, Utilities Kingston’s conservation officer Stephen Sottile will highlight a number of programs that can help consumers reduce energy costs.

What you should know:

• Kingston Hydro’s distribution rates must be approved by the Ontario Energy Board based on applications by the utility. The rate-setting process is open and transparent, and offers opportunities for public participation.
• Kingston Hydro must submit evidence to demonstrate the amount of funding it needs to safely and reliably distribute electricity to its customers.
• The Kingston Hydro electricity distribution area is operated by the employees of Utilities Kingston, which also operates area municipal water, wastewater and gas utilities,  and provides fibre optics. Utilities Kingston’s roots in the community run deep; its employees have been providing utility services in Kingston since 1847.
• The video Utilities Kingston, Committed to Service Excellence, describes the benefits to the Kingston community of having multiple utility services under one roof.