I hope this message finds you, your family and all your loved ones safe and healthy.
During a crisis, we know Ottawa relies on our team to provide safe and reliable power for our city’s hospitals, businesses and homes. It’s a responsibility we don’t take lightly.
To keep you informed, we are regularly updating our dedicated COVID-19 page on our website to answer some of your most pressing concerns and questions. As you may already know, residential and small business time-of-use customers in the province now pay the lowest rate for electricity no matter the day or time, we’ve extended the provincial ban on disconnections until the end of July, and there are financial assistance programs available for customers looking for emergency relief.
While we’ve weathered floods, ice storms and tornadoes together, the COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis unlike any other we’ve experienced in our community. As we enter our sixth week of self-isolation under a state of emergency, we want to reassure you that we are dedicated to keeping the lights on and helping you through this time.
While most of our employees are working remotely, the reality is that there are some jobs that can’t be done from home. As an essential service, our crews remain on call for emergencies day or night, and are out in the community working on critical projects to make sure that the power is there when you and your family need it. Rest assured, we are taking every precaution to ensure our employees stay safe and risks are minimized so that they can go home to their families at the end of each day.
We know that many of you are going through a difficult financial time and that your focus is on keeping your families safe. We continue to work closely with the provincial government and our industry partners and peers to address your concerns. We’re also working with the city and local agencies to offer assistance and contribute however we can.
Helping our community during a crisis is in our blood. We’ve made it through some big storms in our past, and I’m confident we will weather this one together as well.
On behalf of all the staff at Hydro Ottawa, please take care of yourself and your families. And thank you to the dedicated healthcare personnel and other essential workers for keeping our community safe and healthy.