Disclaimer- the following is no way harassment of employees.. All information is pulled from public websites.
I have spent hours reading and researching data on ELK Energy from the Ontario Energy Board website- which is public. Anyone can find the following they just need the time and the willingness to want to know more information. The Town of Essex is the SOLE SHAREHOLDER of ELK Energy and 5 Councillors on the ELK board are paid board members.
For the sake of public transparency and sharing facts with the public from what I have read, I am going to highlight some of the application for you. I do NOT speak Hydro but I am have tried my best to understand how everything works and I think I have a basic understanding of the processes. I did try asking questions when I was an ELK Board member but asking questions at the Board was not welcomed either so I left the Board so I can continue to ask questions on your behalf. Due to the numerous power flickers in our area in both Hydro One and ELK Territory I think it is time the sole shareholder do a through look into the infrastructure of its asset… since you know.. YOU own it.
Every 5 Years..
Every 5 years a utility has to do a Cost of Service Application to the Ontario Energy Board which governs our Hydro providers. A Cost of Service is a big application and the utility needs to provide justification to the Ontario Energy Board for a larger rate increase. ELK’s most recent Cost of Service had multiple issues in my opinion and was not accepted as presented to the Ontario Energy Board. The next Cost of Service application deadline to file was August 31st, 2021. ELK could not make that deadline. I will focus more on that in a following post. In the off years of a Cost of Service application the utility can apply for Rate Order increases which are smaller increases. The Rate Order Increases are less complicated and the rate increase as the rate increase request is not as big. I pulled some information from the 2017 ELK Energy application for your information. I do not know how familiar ELK Energy Board Members are to this information as it is NOT easy to find and take a lot of time to search for it. It is much more exhaustive than the self reported utility Score Cards which can be easily found.
From the Ontario Energy Board to ELK about the Application November 2017:
“Addressing Concerns Raised Regarding E.L.K. Energy’s Operations
Due to concerns raised by the parties about E.L.K. Energy’s evidence, E.L.K. Energy
agreed to complete the following three undertakings prior to its next cost of service
application, which is planned for no later than 2022:
1- A detailed regulatory audit to ensure that E.L.K. Energy has proper accounting
procedures and practices.
2- A detailed operational review (including, business planning, management
oversight, data security, human and financial resources, and comparison with industry’s best practices) with an explanation on how the findings and recommendations will inform E.L.K. Energy’s business plan going forward.
3- An asset condition assessment, which will provide input into an asset registry
and provide input into E.L.K. Energy’s Distribution System Plan.
In Decision and Procedural Order No. 4, the OEB requested additional information on,
and examples of, the operational concerns raised and an overview of E.L.K. Energy’s
plan to address them.
In the revised settlement proposal, the parties provided more details on the specific
concerns regarding the application and the utility, supported by evidentiary references.
The following wording was provided in the revised settlement proposal with respect to
the regulatory audit:
The scope of the audit will be determined with the assistance of OEB staff, in their sole and absolute discretion. OEB staff’s assistance with the scoping of the audit will not in any way limit the OEB from undertaking a new or different audit pursuant to their statutory mandate and powers, which shall remain in the sole and absolute discretion of the OEB. If OEB staff choose not to perform the audit, E.L.K. will retain a qualified, independent third-party auditor to complete the audit.
With respect to the operations review and asset condition assessment, the revised
settlement proposal notes the following: “This requirement may be satisfied if the OEB
elects to undertake this assessment as part of its public interest function”.
OEB staff submitted that the revised settlement proposal provides more details
regarding the concerns about the application and E.L.K. Energy, which underpin the
development of the undertakings. OEB staff reiterated its position that the process for
determining how such reviews should be conducted must remain at the discretion of the
OEB as part of its monitoring and audit function.”
Mark is no longer employed at ELK- he resigned. He wrote this a week before he left…. see below….
