With the first half of fiscal year 2024-25 complete, and as a follow-up to the mid-year
review letter sent to you by Ontario Energy Board (OEB) CEO Susanna Zagar on
October 10, I am pleased to provide a mid-point update on the OEB’s adjudicative work.
Our Adjudicative Dashboard, launched three years ago and updated twice yearly,
remains a key indicator of the rigour of our adjudicative processes. It openly and
transparently keeps the OEB accountable and stakeholders up to date on adjudicative
efficiency by reporting on adjudicative activity and how we are meeting our performance
standards.
The dashboard posted on our website includes a number of metrics and a full narrative.
I am pleased to report, for the period April 1 to September 30, 2024, that:
• 116 decisions were issued.
• 100% of panel and delegated decisions met or surpassed OEB performance
standards for total cycle time.
• 77% of all decisions were issued more than 14 days in advance of the decision
metric date.
• The OEB met all of its decision-writing timelines.
• On average, 41 key regulatory documents were issued each month.
Beyond the Dashboard, I’d like to share several other important adjudicative activities
underway over the past six months.
We’ve continued delivering against the Intervenor Action Plan, as requested of us in
the Letter of Direction (LoD) we received last November. The Minister asked the OEB to
expand the scope of work to include consideration of a dedicated consumer advocate
and capping intervenor costs. We delivered our report to the Minister of Energy and
Electrification in late September. We are now proceeding with work to enhance our
adjudicative processes and are looking forward to feedback from the Minister. As part of
this work, we are piloting a budget for intervenors participating in cost-of-service
applications for electricity distributors with fewer than 30,000 customers and a new
adjudicative process for the very small distributors.
We issued Phase One of the Benefit-Cost Analysis Framework for Addressing
Electricity System Needs in the spring. The document provides guidance,
methodologies and tools for electricity distributors to use in identifying impacts of nonwires solutions on their systems. Work on Phase Two of this project, which will consider broader energy system impacts, is commencing this fall.
In June, the OEB launched the Vulnerability Assessment and System Hardening
project to develop policies and a framework to address three items in the LoD:
incorporating climate resiliency into asset and investment planning for regulated entities,
engaging in regular assessment of vulnerabilities in their distribution system and
operations in severe weather, and prioritizing value for customers when investing in
system enhancements for resilience. A report on this topic is planned for June 2025,
followed by enhancements to the OEB’s cost-of-service filing requirements by fall 2025.
We also issued a revised Handbook to Electricity Distributor and Transmitter
Consolidations following a review of our Mergers, Amalgamations, Acquisitions and
Divestitures policy in July. The review leveraged our experience with consolidation related decisions, and the updated policies will help facilitate planning and decision making by ensuring a more predictable regulatory environment for applicants
considering consolidation.
In September, and following amendments made on June 27 to sections 90 and 95 of
the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998, the OEB issued new filing requirements for
natural gas leave to construct applications. Exemptions are now available for
relocation or reconstruction of natural gas pipelines needed to facilitate certain priority
transit projects, projects by road authorities and for hydrocarbon lines projected to cost
between $2 million and $10 million. The central issue to be determined by the OEB is
whether the duty to consult Indigenous peoples has been adequately discharged. The
OEB was also proactive in issuing updated filing requirements for Ontario Power
Generation’s payments in advance of their next major application.
Consistent with our generic hearings protocol, our cost of capital generic hearing is
currently underway. This major proceeding was discussed at last year’s Policy Day and
feedback from stakeholders confirmed the importance of this initiative. The proceeding
launched at the end of the 2023-24 fiscal year and an oral hearing recently concluded.
Stakeholders also provided feedback at Policy Day that the OEB should prioritize the
review of the Incremental Capital Module policy. The OEB recently initiated this review
as part of our ongoing commitment to ensure that our regulatory framework remains
robust, transparent and responsive to the evolving needs of the electricity sector.
I am delighted to welcome our newest Commissioner, Dr. Vinay Sharma, former CEO
of London Hydro, and to congratulate Dr. Robert Dodds on his reappointment. I look
forward to working with both of them. We are expecting to welcome another
Commissioner in the near future, so please be on the lookout for that. I would also like
to express my gratitude to Michael Janigan and Dr. Emad Elsayed for their many years
of service as they finish off their terms. It has been a pleasure working with them.
Finally, and as you may know, my term expires at the end of our fiscal year, March 31,
2025, so this is my last report to you. I have been honoured to serve as the OEB’s first
Chief Commissioner and to work with the exceptional team of Commissioners and OEB
staff. I am more than confident in the ability of our team to continue the important work
of the OEB and, particularly, to continue the proven track record of adjudicative
excellence.
Sincerely,
Lynne Anderson
Chief Commissioner