Ontario’s largest electricity distributor is cutting back on seasonal positions this year.
“Like many companies, Hydro One uses a flexible workforce for seasonal or project work. This helps us provide customers with reliable power while maintaining appropriate staffing levels. This year, we anticipate we will need fewer seasonal workers to support our work programs,” a spokesperson for Hydro One said in an email.
Hydro One provides electricity to 1.5 million residential and business customers across the province, covering approximately 75 per cent of Ontario’s geographic area. To deliver this service, the company typically hires seasonal employees between March and November to clear brush and fallen branches along power lines. Hydro One is responsible for maintaining more than 150,000 circuit-kilometres of power line across the province. It’s how the company delivers electricity to customers.
But this year, Hydro One has decided to reduce its number of seasonal employees. The company declined to comment on how many seasonal positions it was eliminating, why it had decided to eliminate the positions, or whether it would impact service to Ontario customers.
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This decision was made despite a profitable fourth quarter last year. In February, Hydro One published its financial results. The company reported a year-end revenue of $8.4 billion in 2024, up from $7.8 billion in 2023. The company also took on several new projects last year, including the construction of 260 kilometres of transmission line between the Wawa and Porcupine transformer stations, near Timmins in northern Ontario, as well as completing the 49-kilometre transmission line between Chatham and Lakeshore, near Windsor.
Hydro One is also currently being used as leverage in the ongoing tariff war between Canada and the United States. In response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on Canadian goods, the Ontario government, which owns a 47.2 per cent share of Hydro One, announced a 25 per cent surcharge on electricity exports to the U.S.
Hydro One provides electricity to 1.5 million homes and businesses across Michigan, Minnesota, and New York. The surcharge, which was implemented on March 10, generates between $300,000 and $400,000 per day.
“For decades, Ontario has powered American homes, factories, offices, and jobs, and we will not stand by as our vital electricity exports are taken for granted,” said Stephen Lecce, Minister of Energy and Electrification, in a statement. “In a time where prices are going up for families in America, Canada and the United States should be working together to strengthen our trade and investment relationships to ensure a prosperous future for both sides of the border.”
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U.S. customers pay the full cost of the exported electricity plus the surcharge to Hydro One. Then the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), a crown corporation responsible for operating the electricity market in Ontario, collects the surcharge revenue from Hydro One on behalf of the Ontario government. The first revenues from the surcharge will be collected in mid-April.
The government has said it will use this revenue to support Ontario workers, families, and businesses. Although, it’s unclear whether this revenue will benefit the seasonal workers who lost their positions at Hydro One this year.
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