Vik Kirsch
Guelph Mercury
September 30, 2006

Guelph Hydro Inc. announced yesterday it would wind down operations at Selectpower, one of its subsidiaries, this year.

Board chair Paul Truex said the retailer wasn’t profitable and a turnaround wasn’t coming. "We’re simply phasing out of these businesses because we’re not making money at it," he said.

Selectpower was a power retailer, selling wind power, air conditioning units, hot water heaters and geothermal systems. It was created in 2000, following the deregulation of Ontario’s electricity market in late 1998.

Truex said he hopes some of Selectpower’s nine employees will be absorbed into other Guelph Hydro operations or move on to any buyer of Selectpower assets. They’ve all been offered severance packages, he added.

The closure follows a review concluding the parent company should concentrate on its core business. Guelph Hydro distributes power to 40,000 customers.

Selectpower’s demise wasn’t a surprise to Energy Probe executive director Tom Adams.

"I’m not crying about it, either. I think it’s good for utilities to stick to their knitting," Adams said. After deregulation came in, some municipal utilities entered the field. But Adams, whose Toronto organization closely monitors the energy field, said municipal utilities have a poor track record.

City Councillor Dan Moziar, who has an interest in energy issues, said Selectpower simply never thrived.

"It doesn’t surprise me they pulled the plug," Moziar said.

Selectpower was initially given three years to show it could be viable, Moziar recalled. When that didn’t happen, the time frame was extended.

"Obviously, the situation didn’t improve," he said yesterday.