Alectra, discover the possibilities

As the local electricity distributor for 17 communities, including Alliston, Aurora, Barrie, Beeton, Brampton, Bradford West Gwillimbury, Guelph, Hamilton, Markham, Mississauga, Penetanguishene, Richmond Hill, Rockwood, St. Catharines, Thornton, Tottenham and Vaughan, Alectra Utilities delivers electricity to approximately one million homes and businesses across a 1,924 square kilometre service territory each and every day. 

However, the way we do it is evolving. Looking ahead, Alectra plans to more than double its capital spending by 2031 to fund essential grid renewal, expansion and modernization, and to maintain the reliability and safety of the distribution system. 

To ensure we can continue delivering electricity service safely and reliably for years to come, we’ve developed our five-year investment plan for 2027 to 2031. With the input from customers and business experts, and in accordance with regulatory requirements, we've developed our plan to address the following challenges ahead of us: 

• Renewing and replacing deteriorating infrastructure
• Meeting customer requirements and serving the economic needs of municipal growth
• Building resilience in the face of extreme weather and cybersecurity attacks

Our 2027–2031 Distribution System Plan focuses on three major priorities: 

1) Renewing and Replacing Infrastructure 

We’ve consistently invested in the upkeep of our aging infrastructure and improved the performance of our system since Alectra’s formation in 2017. Moving forward, we will continue to focus on renewing aging, deteriorating and obsolete equipment. This will help minimize the risk of outages, ensure safe operations, and mitigate environmental hazards posed by old equipment such as underground cables, aging poles, leaking transformers and meters at the end of their useful life. 

2) Meeting Growing Electricity Demand 

As the communities within our service territory continue to grow, and more customers turn to electricity to power their homes, vehicles and businesses, Alectra Utilities has a critical role to play in expanding and enhancing the local grid so that customers can continue to plug in safely and reliably. 

3) Enabling Resiliency & Modernization 

As more customers plug into electrified technologies, including electric vehicles and heat pumps, we need to invest in building a more intelligent and resilient grid. This includes Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) that can send electricity back to the grid, as well as integrating new smart grid technologies that can help us restore power to customers faster during outages. These necessary investments will strengthen or “harden” the grid against extreme weather and potential cyber-attacks.

Electricity distributors in Ontario, like Alectra Utilities, are entirely funded by the distribution rates paid by their customers. To have our rates approved, Alectra is required to submit a plan for our proposed prices (rates) and spending to the Ontario Energy Board (OEB), Ontario's independent energy regulator. The OEB will then review our plan and proposed rates for 2027–2031 in an open and transparent public process known as a rate-rebasing application. 

Customer input is an essential part of the application process. Alectra is accountable to the OEB for considering customer needs and preferences as we develop our plan, and for explaining and demonstrating how customer feedback informed the plan.