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The Oakville Beaver, Friday May 5, 2006 - 3 The ups and downs of Oakville's hydro rate increase By Howard Mozel OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Joy ride ends in arrests Four Oakville young offenders are facing charges in connection with a stolen van that police caught them with redhanded April 30. Around 7 p.m. Halton Regional Police officers were alerted to suspicious activity observed by a concerned citizen. The officers arrived and found a van stolen earlier from Oakville near the Motel 6 located on the North service Road in Burlington. Officers disabled the van and kept watch for a short time, until the suspects returned to it. The officers, assisted by the Police Services Dog, moved in and captured the thieves without incident. Four youths aged 16 to 17 were arrested and charged with the theft and possession of the stolen van. The identity of the youths can not be released subject to restrictions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Anyone with information related to the matter should contact the Burlington Investigations Division at 905-825-4777 or 905-634-1831 ext. 2315. While overall electricity bills are going up this month, the only portion directly controlled by the Oakville Hydro Corporation is, in fact, decreasing. That said, the utility's President and CEO reassures customers that costs are not being curbed to the detriment of the local system. Alex Bystrin explained that the distribution portion of a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours a month is going down 5.49 per cent or $1.79. The overall service revenue requirements (the amount the utility requires to service Oakville) are also going down by 2.56 per cent. Unfortunately, household hydro bills also reflect an assortment of costs over which Oakville Hydro has no say so total bills will increase. Top among these is the 16 per cent jump in the "commodity," the actual electricity Oakville Hydro buys from Ontario Power Generation (OPG). This, and other money that the local utility collects on third parties' behalf (like Hydro One's debt) does not remain in town. The resulting total impact for a residential customer at 1,000 kilowatt hours a month, including commodity, is going up by $10.92 or 9.73 per cent. (This includes the recovery of Oakville Hydro's subsidization of electricity when rates were "sky-high," said Bystrin.) "This is a bad news, good news story," he said. "We can control only so much." Bystrin went on to say, however, that Oakville Hydro is not managing its distribution costs by skimping on maintenance, laying off workers or any other such shortsighted measure. To do so, he said, would only postpone the inevitable. Using an automobile analogy, Bystrin said Oakville Hydro "is not skip- "This is a bad news, good news story. We can control only so much." Alex Bystrin, President and CEO of Oakville Hydro ping the oil change" to make ends meet. To determine the amount necessary to maintain its system, Oakville Hydro must apply to the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) by taking into account its $10 million operating expenses, taxes, depreciation of assets and many other factors. "If we can control operating expenses we can maintain our rates," said Bystrin. Even though inflation pushes costs up, by servicing a growth area Oakville Hydro has new customers coming on stream all the time. The net result is that the cost per customer goes down. "It's a fine balance," said Bystrin. Oakville Hydro's bottom line is also blessed by several subsidiaries that all contribute to its overhead. In addition to the distribution end of the business, they include the fibre optic business Blink Communications Inc., Energy Services Inc. (which covers everything from the Green Power Program and meter sales to building an electricityfrom-landfill gas plant) and a new construction sideline. Oakville Hydro bills also encompass a water and wastewater portion on behalf of Halton Region, which sets its own rates for these services. Oakville Hydro's only connection is that its employees read both power and water meters, then print an extra line on its bill. The Region then pays for its cost of Oakville Hydro's efforts. "Other utilities may not have these ways to offset costs," said Bystrin, explaining why distribution costs vary from community to community. When compared to distribution numbers in other jurisdictions, Oakville falls somewhere in the middle of the pack. For example, Grand Valley Energy Inc. rates went up 10.1 per cent while those for Orangeville Hydro Ltd. dropped 4.8 per cent. In 2000, Oakville Town Council approved the appointment of a seven-member Board of Directors to oversee operations of the Oakville Hydro Corporation. 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