Elexicon Annual Reports

Average Service Availability Index (“ASAI”) is the ratio of the total number of customer hours that service was available during a given time period to the total customer hours demanded.
System Average Interruption Duration Index (“SAIDI”) is the average total duration of outages (in hours) experienced by a customer in the year.
System Average Interruption Frequency Index (“SAIFI”) is the average number of times that a system customer experienced an outage during the year.
Momentary Average Interruption Frequency Index (“MAIFI”) is the average number of momentary interruptions that a customer experienced during the year.

Last year will be remembered for powerful storms that hit Elexicon Energy’s service territory, and the resiliency, readiness and responsiveness demonstrated by employees across all departments.

On May 21, a powerful derecho storm ripped through Ontario, leaving 64,000 Elexicon customers without power. In addition, an EF2 tornado touched down in the Township of Uxbridge, destroying the Uxbridge West Substation, which required a full rebuild. Elexicon’s Crisis Management Team (“CMT”), was already on high alert for this storm and activated the Power Restoration Plan. As a result of their efforts, power was restored to 90 per cent of customers by May 23, and 98.7 per cent by May 27. In addition, the Uxbridge West Substation was rebuilt, and the Township re-energized on May 29, within eight days of the storm.

On June 16 and 17, another devastating storm hit the City of Belleville, leaving nearly 15,000 customers without power. Damage was significant and widespread throughout the city. Again, Elexicon’s CMT mobilized crews and systems operators to restore power as quickly and as safely as possible. The majority of customers had their power restored in under 36 hours, while the remaining 1,500 had their lights back on in under 48 hours.

On December 23, a significant winter storm hit southern Ontario, bringing strong and damaging winds and heavy snow. More than 300,000 homes and businesses across the province and into Quebec lost power, including more than 10,000 Elexicon customers. Strong and gusty winds, paired with blowing snow, made power restoration efforts difficult and at times dangerous. However, our crews did not flinch and the holiday lights were shining by Christmas Eve night.

With all three storms, the One Elexicon spirit was on display during the power restoration efforts. Management and communications kept customers, community officials and the media updated on the efforts and status of repairs and power restoration, as crews worked around the clock to get the lights back on quickly and safely.

In July, Elexicon Energy filed its 2023 electricity distribution rate application which included two Incremental Capital Module (“ICM”) project requests: the Whitby Smart Grid Project and the Sustainable Brooklin Project. Combined, these projects will drive innovation, support the transformation of the energy system, and improve the ongoing resiliency of the distribution system in the communities it serves.

The Whitby Smart Grid project involves the installation of a suite of proven smart grid technologies on Elexicon’s distribution system. Through the application of Conservation Voltage Reduction, Elexicon expects to reduce energy consumption by as much as three per cent in the Town of Whitby. With the installation of field devices and distribution automation technologies, Elexicon expects that customers will experience a reduction in the length and frequency of sustained outages. This project is estimated to provide an annual net benefit to customers of $700,000 and will lay the foundation to enable the energy transformation.

With the support of the Town of Whitby, Elexicon submitted an application for the Sustainable Brooklin Project. Elexicon is seeking an exemption from a regulated requirement to collect a capital contribution from local developers towards the cost of constructing and operating the line that provides capacity to the development. In exchange, developers will build over 11,000 new homes in the North Brooklin community with features that enable Distributed Energy Resources (“DERs”) including rough-ins for solar panels, battery storage and electric vehicles. This project will create a fully DER-enabled community, providing a solid foundation for future conservation opportunities for customers. It will also allow Elexicon to implement non-wires alternatives in the community for greater resiliency and to defer future infrastructure investment to the benefit of all of Elexicon’s customers.

In early December, employees represented by the Power Workers’ Union CUPE Local 100 (“PWU”) ratified a three-year contract with Elexicon Energy. The previous Collective Agreement, covering approximately 180 employees in critical front-line roles across Elexicon’s service territory, expired on June 30, 2022. Maintaining an electricity system that is reliable, safe and affordable is paramount, and the commitment of Elexicon’s PWU employees and the bargaining team for both parties helped to make this agreement possible.

On August 30, Elexicon Energy launched its new customer-friendly, mobile-first website. The primary goal of the redesign was to create an interactive and engaging website that would improve the online experience for Elexicon customers and was responsive across all platforms and devices. At the beginning of the project, Elexicon surveyed its customers and held focus groups to determine user needs, and developed the new site based on those insights. The website’s content was organized into Home, Business, and Contractor & Developer categories to help all users easily find the information they need. The newly designed outage map uses the Google Maps Platform technology, and includes both a map and list view that is colour-coded based on outage type.

Elexicon Energy is continuously looking for ways to enhance the experience for its customers. In 2022, Elexicon completed the implementation of its new VoIP (“Voice over Internet Protocol”) telephony system to replace its aging phone system and Call Centre infrastructure. This fully integrated, cloud-based solution allows users to make and receive voice and video calls over the internet instead of a landline, and provides new features and functionality that improves all interactions with customers.

The Seaton Municipal Transformer Station #1 (“Seaton TS”) was energized on December 11, 2022. This is the first municipal transformer station wholly owned and operated by Elexicon Energy, providing connection capacity for renewable energy resources to the Seaton community, ensuring a more sustainable future for all. Seaton is a master plan development with 20,000 new homes under construction, as well as anticipated commercial and industrial customers, in one of the fastest growing regions of Ontario.

When selecting the location for the Seaton TS, Elexicon conducted an extensive Environmental Assessment in consultation with ten Indigenous communities with historical connections to the project area. The site was selected based on a combination of cost, technical requirements, and environmental impacts, including potential archeological concerns of First Nations communities, and the Mississaugas of the Scugog Island First Nations, located near Port Perry.

In December, Elexicon opened a new purpose-built Operations Centre to serve the electricity needs of the City of Belleville. This 16,000 square foot facility, which will serve as the organization’s eastern energy hub, houses line staff, engineering technicians, a metering department and administration. Features of the facility include a back-up control room to support the primary control room in Ajax, a functional garage for fleet vehicles, expanded storage for inventory and equipment, plus improved safety with state-of-the-art security features in and around the facility.

After a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, Elexicon Energy’s 2nd Annual Charity Golf Classic was held at Deer Creek in the Town of Ajax. More than 270 golfers representing the Elexicon Board of Directors, employees, partners, and colleagues across the energy sector attended the tournament, raising a record-breaking $144,000. Six vital community agencies were recipients of the funds: Feed the Need in Durham, Gleaners Food Bank (Quinte), Gravenhurst Against Poverty, Ontario Shores Foundation for Mental Health (Whitby), Frontenac Youth Services (Oshawa) and Hearth Place Cancer Support Centre (Oshawa).

In partnership with Grandview Kids, Elexicon Energy launched the inaugural “Dream Big, Dream Brighter Gala”. The fundraising event raised a remarkable $32,620 for the community agency. Elexicon is committed to supporting the most vulnerable in its communities, and the proceeds will ensure Grandview can continue to help thousands of children and youth in the Durham Region live life at their full potential. This was the first event in a multi-year partnership between Elexicon and Grandview Kids.

Electrical safety is a top priority for Elexicon Energy; the organization recognizes the importance of educating children on electric hazards from an early age. Elexicon was proud to be recognized by the Electricity Distributors Association with an award for public electrical safety excellence for its partnership with the Kids’ Safety Village Durham. The village – one of only six in the province – is a kid-sized version of a real town that teaches students in grades 1 to 3 all aspects of safety. Through animated electrical safety videos and comprehensive in-person learning, Elexicon staff presented to hundreds of students, receiving positive feedback from schools and the Kids’ Safety Village.