Bluewater Power Distribution Corporation
Contact this Utility:
Sarnia ON N7T 7L6
The electricity utility scorecards measure how well Ontario's electricity utilities are performing each year. It is designed to encourage utilities to operate effectively, continually seek ways to improve productivity and focus on improvements that their customers value. Utilities report their scorecard performance results annually, and make the results available to the public.
The scorecard can be used as a tool for consumers to assess for themselves the value of the service received from their electricity utility. For example:
- When service appointments are booked with my utility, how often did they show up on time?
- How often did my power go out, and how long did the utility take to fix the problem and restore power?
- How successful is my utility at issuing accurate bills?
- Did my utility answer phone calls from customers in a timely way?
Use our report generator tool to compare costs and performance between distributors
New residential/small business services connected on time 99.22% (2023)
The utility must connect new service for the customer within five business days, 90 % of the time, unless the customer agrees to a later date. This timeline depends on the customer meeting specific requirements ahead of time (such as no electrical safety concerns in the building, customer's payment information complete, etc.)
Scheduled appointments met on time 100% (2023)
For appointments during the utility's regular business hours, the utility must offer a window of time that is not more than four hours long, and must arrive within that window, 90 % of the time.
Telephone calls answered on time 90.69% (2023)
During regular call centre hours, the utility's call centre staff must answer within 30 seconds of receiving the call directly or having the call transferred to them, 65 % of the time
Billing accuracy 99.98% (2023)
An important part of business is ensuring that customer's bills are accurate. The utility must report on its success at issuing accurate bills to its customers.
More information about billing accuracy
More information about billing accuracy
Accurate bills issued expressed as a percentage of total bills issued. It is calculated as:
= (Total number of bills issued for the year – Number of inaccurate bills issued for the year) / Total number of bills issued for the year
This requirement must be met at least 98% of the time on a yearly basis.
Complaints 0.03 (2023)
This metric measures the number of complaints the Ontario Energy Board received from customers about matters within our authority. Complaints made directly to the utility are not reported here. We measure this per 1000 customers so utilities that serve much larger or smaller populations can be compared against each other.
| Year | Complaints per 1000 customers | Total number of complaints |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 0.06 | 2 |
| 2014 | 0.06 | 2 |
| 2015 | 0.08 | 3 |
| 2016 | 0.03 | 1 |
| 2017 | 0.03 | 1 |
| 2018 | 0.08 | 3 |
| 2019 | 0.08 | 3 |
| 2020 | 0.03 | 1 |
| 2021 | 0.08 | 3 |
| 2022 | 0.03 | 1 |
| 2023 | 0.03 | 1 |
Average number of hours power to a customer was interrupted 1.03495h (2023)
An important feature of a reliable distribution system is recovering from power outages as quickly as possible. The utility must track the average length of time, in hours, that its customers have experienced a power outage over the past year.
Average number of times power to a customer was interrupted 0.954193 (2023)
Another important feature of a reliable distribution system is reducing the frequency of power outages. Utilities must also track the number of times their customers experienced a power outage during the past year.
More information about interruption frequency
More information about interruption frequency
We measure disruption using the System Average Interruption Duration Index (Loss of Supply). It expresses the average amount of time, per reporting period, during which supply to a customer was interrupted. It is determined by dividing the total monthly duration of all interruptions experienced by all customers (excluding interruptions caused by Loss of Supply events), in hours, by the average number of customers served:
= (Total Customer Hours of Interruptions – Total Customer Hours of Interruptions caused by Loss of Supply events)/ Average Number of Customers Served.
Efficiency rating 3 (2023)
The utility must manage its costs successfully in order to help assure its customers they are receiving value for the cost of the service they receive. Utilities' total costs are evaluated to produce a single efficiency ranking. This is divided into five groups based on how big the difference is between each utility's actual and predicted costs. Distributors whose actual costs are lower than their predicted costs are considered more efficient.
- 1 = Actual costs are 25% or more below predicted costs
- 2 = Actual costs are 10% to 25% below predicted costs
- 3 = Actual costs are within +/- 10% of predicted costs
- 4 = Actual costs are 10% to 25% above predicted costs
- 5 = Actual costs are 25% or more above predicted costs
| 2013 | 3 |
| 2014 | 3 |
| 2015 | 3 |
| 2016 | 3 |
| 2017 | 3 |
| 2018 | 3 |
| 2019 | 3 |
| 2020 | 3 |
| 2021 | 3 |
| 2022 | 3 |
| 2023 | 3 |
Cost per customer $861 (2023)
A simple measure that can be used as a comparison with other utilities is the utility's total cost per customer.
Total cost is a sum of all the costs incurred by the utility to provide service to its customers. The amount is then divided by the utility's total number of customers. This amount does not represent how much customers pay for their utility services.
More information about Cost per Customer
More information about Cost per Customer
Total cost is calculated as the sum of a utility’s capital costs and Operating, Maintenance & Administration, or OM&A, costs, including certain adjustments to make the costs more comparable between utilities, per reporting period. This amount is then divided by the total number of customers the utility serves.
| 2013 | $646 |
| 2014 | $637 |
| 2015 | $664 |
| 2016 | $685 |
| 2017 | $693 |
| 2018 | $730 |
| 2019 | $734 |
| 2020 | $710 |
| 2021 | $714 |
| 2022 | $779 |
| 2023 | $861 |