2018 Sustainability Report

In my first three months as President and CEO of Hydro One, I was immediately struck by the strength and resilience of the people who work at Hydro One. In the face of leadership transition, multiple storms and evolving customer expectations, Hydro One employees focused on safely delivering exceptional customer service to homes, businesses and communities across Ontario.

Through their efforts, Hydro One delivered safe and reliable power to the great satisfaction of our customers. During an unprecedented year of severe weather, our crews worked tirelessly to quickly and safely turn the lights back on, improving our power restoration times by one-third over a similar storm event five years earlier.

In 2018, Hydro One strengthened our ability to manage our carbon footprint and adapt to the changing environmental and climate conditions we are experiencing in our daily lives. We also strengthened our ties with Indigenous leaders, businesses and communities across the province, increasing our procurement spending to $39.4 million with Indigenous businesses. Our efforts to streamline our operations and improve our overall efficiency delivered $135.5 million in productivity savings in 2018.

It was, however, a challenging year for Hydro One in many respects. While we met our safety performance targets, employees are still dealing with the emotional aftermath of fatalities in 2017 and early 2019. We are resolved to build a stronger safety culture and deliver world-class safety performance. I will work closely with our new Management/Union Oversight Committee to ensure the safety of our employees is Hydro One’s top priority.

We heard directly from employees that while they are proud of our workplace diversity, there is room for improvement in how we treat one another. Like many large organizations, we must continuously challenge old ways of thinking — long-held stigmas and stereotypes — to ensure we continue to attract the best and brightest people to our organization.

As we look forward, we will continue to invest in Ontario’s economy far beyond the towers and wires people see today. Our pursuit of new technology and leading-edge partnerships is important to modernizing Ontario’s electricity grid and to supporting the growing communities, manufacturing facilities and industrial companies that are vital to the economic health and sustainability of our province. Our investments also create valuable jobs, procurement opportunities, community development projects and sponsorships. Last year alone, Hydro One injected $1.3 billion into Ontario’s economy through purchases of local goods and services.

I know our long-term performance depends on us incorporating sustainability into all aspects of our business and it is my honour to lead Hydro One into the next chapter of our journey toward sustainable growth.

Mark Poweska
President & CEO, Hydro One

At Hydro One we recognize the vital role we play in helping Ontario communities grow and thrive – now and in the future. For us, sustainability means that we are committed to operating safely in an environmentally and socially responsible manner and to partnering with our customers and community stakeholders to build a brighter future for all.

We are committed to doing business in a way that positively impacts the world around us. With the publication of our first Sustainability Report in 2016 (formerly our Corporate Social Responsibility report), we began taking a more formal approach to sustainability.

In 2018, we focused on developing the groundwork to build a successful sustainability program through the completion of a detailed materiality assessment (see page 9). Building on this foundation, we are now embarking on the next phase of our journey – developing a corporate wide sustainability vision and strategy that will guide our purpose, decisions and actions.

This year’s report summarizes our progress in 2018 and we will continue to provide updates on our sustainability journey and our commitment to build a robust sustainability program.

Board-level Sustainability Oversight

Board-level oversight of the sustainability strategy resides with the Governance Committee of the Board of Directors. The Chief Corporate Affairs and Customer Care Officer provides quarterly status updates to the Governance Committee, which oversees management’s implementation of Hydro One’s sustainability strategy, framework, reporting and communications.

Management-level Sustainability Oversight

Oversight and accountability at the management level resides with the Chief Corporate Affairs and Customer Care Officer, while leadership is provided by the executives responsible for key functional areas. Early in 2019, we established a sustainability committee, composed of senior leaders, which provides strategic guidance and perspectives on current, emerging and material sustainability issues.

Hydro One’s Disclosure Committee reviews and approves the accurate disclosure and reporting of our sustainability practices and performance, as well as the timely, accurate and complete disclosure of developments that have a significant and material impact on the company.