Festival Hydro distributes electrical power to approximately 20,000 customers in the municipalities of Stratford, Brussels, Dashwood, Hensall, St. Marys, Seaforth and Zurich. The company, which purchased six other utility companies in the area in 2000, branched off of the Stratford Public Utility Commission, which had provided the same services for the past 100 years. Festival Hydro was created in 2000 when the Ontario government changed features regarding the supply and sale of electrical power.

The company is municipally-owned and also operates a sister company, Rhyzome Networks, which operates a 50km fibre-optic grid running through Stratford and a citywide wireless network.

A number of major suppliers had contributed to both Festival Hydro and Rhyzome Network’s success. Trinity Communications, Motorola, Fleetcom and Allegro have helped to supply, install and design Rhyzome’s fibre optic and Wi-Fi network. Trilliant Networks, S&C Electric Canada and Survalent have acted as suppliers for smart meters, automated switches and SCADA system used to monitor data collection.

INNOVATION

Jac Vanderbaan is the Vice President of Engineering and Operations and has been with the company since 2001. He says that his company has a great culture for innovation with its products and services. “We were one of the first in Ontario to develop a smart switching system, which uses intelligent devices on the primary feeders to create a self-healing grid,” Vanderbaan says. “We were also the first company in North America to integrate our smart meter with a Wi-Fi system so we can receive data as it’s available.”

The smart switching system works in balance with the company’s main feeders and will isolate any problems within the electrical system. “If someone experiences a power outage, the system will isolate the problem, de-energize it and bring power back to the area within 30 seconds,” he says.

“Our smart meter with Wi-Fi system is 90 percent complete and will be available to every home in our area of service. The system will provide hourly information on a home’s consumption and also has the capability to provide real-time information that will tell home owners how much energy they’re using and its costs,” Vanderbaan continues. Additionally, in-home display units will be made available by the summer of 2011. Rhyzome Networks has been installing Wi-Fi across the area which will be used to transmit the data created by these smart meters.

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Festival Hydro undergoes an annual benchmark process, in which it receives a ranking report on over 95 different metrics to make sure the company is good or better than the industry average. “We share this information with other distributors in Ontario and we examine our 10 weakest points to work on,” Vanderbaan says. “For instance, we work to improve our customer response times, average response to an outage times and our controllable costs per customer.”

Additionally, Vanderbaan says that their company maintains a good working relationship with employees and retains an open line of communication with employees if any challenges arise. Along with the standard employee benefits package, Festival Hydro employees undergo regular performance reviews, which are focussed on individual employee development.

“We point out their opportunities for growth and job development,” he says. “We also fully support an employee’s desire for continuous education and the company will pay for educational programs related to a person’s job field or need for further or enhanced education.”

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES

In addition to breaking ground next year for a larger transformer station in Stratford, the company is continuously working to take advantage of technology to improve business efficiencies. Smart switch systems are linked into the company’s SCADA system, which allows for load balancing and faster outage restoration. The SCADA system also monitors all of the company’s feeders so that technicians will know immediately of any power outages or the potential of an outage. The citywide Wi-Fi system will also allow for better two-way communication between the base and smart meters. In 2011, Festival Hydro will be using Rhyzome’s Wi-Fi network to provide field workers with both data and voice connectivity anywhere in their service territory. Work instructions will be dispatched directly to crews on job sites rather than have them drive back to the office, and records can be updated immediately if something is changed in the field.

CUSTOMER TRENDS

The economic recession has helped to mould customer trends and consumers’ electrical usage. “Our customers have shown a desire for more reliable electricity, especially since many of them are working from home,” Vanderbaan says. “When you work from home, any interruption is not okay. Safety has always been our highest priority and now reliability is next on the list. Most residential customers didn’t mind occasional power outages 15 years ago, but now electricity plays a major role in a person’s productivity.”

“Customers are also asking us how they can use less energy to save more money on their energy bill,” he continues. “We’ve hired a full-time energy conservation officer who will visit companies to assess their business installations and look for ways for improved energy efficiency. He’ll visit a factory and suggest things like retrofitted lighting or smaller motors to decrease energy usage. We have 80 larger customers and he sees them on a regular basis to provide opportunities for decreased energy usage or provide them with information about government funding to follow through with these programs.”

Festival Hydro also works with the city’s economic development office and provides information to any business that is looking for reliable electricity and broadband Internet.

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY PROGRAMS

By listening to its customers about their need to use less energy, Festival Hydro has implemented several programs for energy conservation.

The Power Savings Blitz awards small businesses with up to $1,000 in free lighting retrofits whose average monthly energy demand consumption is less than 50kW. The Great Refrigerator Roundup hauls customers’ old and energy-sucking refrigerators and will recycle all materials and coolants in an environmentally conscious manner.

Peaksaver has been a popular program where customers can opt-in to allow Festival Hydro to cycle down air conditioning systems during peak summer days when electricity is heavily used. AC systems are powered down during times of limited use, around 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays. The program costs nothing to the customer and also offers $25 from the Ontario Power Authority.

“These programs already have exceeded our expectations,” Vanderbaan says and displays their consumers’ want to use less energy and save money during the process. “Five years from now, we want to be the leader in Ontario in providing exceptional reliability at a fair price. We’ll be integrating new technology with our smart meters so that our customers can make great decisions about their energy usage.”