Niagara-On-The-Lake Hydro Inc.

Contact this Utility:

8 Henegan Road P.O. Box 460
Virgil, ON L0S 1T0
9,816
Number of customers
133 sq. km
Total size of service area
328 km
Total km of electricity line

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
100% (2022)

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.)

Target met
OEB Target = 90%
2013 100%
2014 98.6%
2015 96.9%
2016 98.9%
2017 98.94%
2018 99.42%
2019 100%
2020 99.21%
2021 100%
2022 100%

Scheduled appointments met on time
100% (2022)

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. 

Target met
OEB Target = 90%
2013 100%
2014 100%
2015 99.7%
2016 99.5%
2017 100%
2018 100%
2019 100%
2020 100%
2021 100%
2022 100%

Telephone calls answered on time
98.04% (2022)

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

Target met
OEB Target = 65%
2013 91.7%
2014 85.3%
2015 87.7%
2016 86.2%
2017 87.26%
2018 89.98%
2019 86.8%
2020 95.61%
2021 98.34%
2022 98.04%

Billing accuracy
99.64% (2022)

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

Target met
OEB Target = 98%
2014 99.77%
2015 99.83%
2016 99.83%
2017 99.85%
2018 100%
2019 100%
2020 99.87%
2021 99.9%
2022 99.64%

Complaints
0.00 (2022)

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
2018 0.00 0
2019 0.00 0
2020 0.10 1
2021 0.00 0
2022 0.00 0

Average number of hours power to a customer was interrupted
0.604992h (2022)

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. 

2013 3.55h
2014 0.94h
2015 2.02h
2016 0.336723h
2017 0.502676h
2018 0.762988h
2019 0.503185h
2020 0.734849h
2021 1.02147h
2022 0.604992h

Average number of times power to a customer was interrupted
0.603262 (2022)

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

2013 0.42
2014 1.07
2015 1.2
2016 1.0256
2017 0.875609
2018 0.483116
2019 0.383024
2020 0.519964
2021 1.2524
2022 0.603262

Efficiency rating
2 (2022)

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 2
2022 2

Cost per customer
$804 (2022)

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

2013 $699
2014 $710
2015 $706
2016 $717
2017 $698
2018 $761
2019 $758
2020 $750
2021 $768
2022 $804