John Spears
Toronto Star
May 16, 2003

The Ontario Energy Board is using a heavy hand in an ongoing tussle with Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc. over the utility’s extensive practice of outsourcing services.

The board has issued formal notices ordering two senior executives to appear at hearings next week with an array of documents concerning Enbridge’s outsourcing practices.

At the bottom, in large type, the summons says: "IF YOU FAIL TO ATTEND . . . THE ONTARIO COURT (GENERAL DIVISION) MAY ORDER THAT A WARRANT FOR YOUR ARREST BE ISSUED . . ."

The legal bluster has raised eyebrows among those familiar with the normally staid energy board, including its recently departed chair, Floyd Laughren.

"It wasn’t used for the five years I was around," Laughren said in an interview yesterday.

Peter Budd, a lawyer for Enbridge, called the summonses "highly unusual" for the energy board: "They just don’t do it. And they don’t need to do it."

The summonses were issued to Stephen Letwin, group vice-president of Enbridge Inc., the parent company of Enbridge Gas Distribution, which is the utility that deals directly with customers; and to Dwight Willett of Accenture Business Services, which provides customer services to Enbridge Gas Distribution.

Donna Garant of the energy board says the documents are needed to help the board, which is considering Enbridge’s latest rate application, understand the costs involved in the outsourced contracts.

The issue goes back to a decision released last December, in which the board said Enbridge Gas Distribution had outsourced so many functions to companies affiliated with its parent Enbridge Inc., the board couldn’t tell who really controlled the utility.

The board said it wants proof of the company’s claims that the outsourcing saves money and benefits customers.

Some of the Enbridge affiliate companies launched a court challenge to the board’s request for information about the outsourcing contracts.

With the new summonses, the board is continuing to pursue that information in spite of the legal challenge.

"I was somewhat surprised to see that that (court) process was not let to run its course," said Budd, who acts for Enbridge Gas Distribution. "All of this is highly unusual conduct of the board."

But Peter Fournier, president of the Industrial Gas Users Association and an intervenor in Enbridge’s rate application, said his group sees no need for the energy board to wait for the courts.

"We said: Get on with the bloody hearing," he said in an interview.

Tom Adams, executive director of Energy Probe, said the whole episode indicates a new tone at the energy board, which in the past often resembled a "gentlemen’s club."