Every day PowerStream receives inquiries from customers on a number of different topics. Have a question you would like to ask PowerStream? Click here to submit your question. Here are some answers to several of the more common and interesting questions:

Who owns PowerStream?

This is a very common question. PowerStream is a municipally-owned electricity distribution company. It is owned by the municipalities of Barrie, Vaughan and Markham. In fact, PowerStream is the second largest municipally-owned utility in Ontario.

How do PowerStream’s distribution rates compare with other utilities?

PowerStream prides itself on having some of the lowest distribution rates in Ontario. The utility is constantly working to reduce the upward pressure on rates by minimizing operational costs while maintaining the reliability PowerStream’s customers have come to expect.

How does the cost of electricity relate to other typical expenses?

Electricity is a very important part of everyone's life today and some people feel that it is very expensive. In recent years Statistics Canada completed a study of spending patterns in Canada which helps put your electricity bill in context with other expenses. What PowerStream found is that, for a typical PowerStream residential customer, electricity represents approximately 1% of overall personal spending per year. A real value if you think about how important it is in today's society.

If PowerStream's revenue comes from distribution rates why do you want us to conserve?

PowerStream’s commitment to customer service has always included helping its customers to better manage their electricity consumption, Further to this, on January 1, 2011 the Provincial Government, through the Ontario Energy Board, assigned electricity demand and consumption reduction targets for all utilities in Ontario that must be achieved by December 31, 2014. PowerStream’s assigned targets are 96 megawatts of demand and 410 gigawatt hours. This is the equivalent to removing 34,167 average homes from PowerStream’s distribution grid.

Since it is less expensive to conserve a kilowatt-hour than it is to generate the same amount of electricity, the Provincial Government, through the Ontario Power Authority, has introduced a number of saveONenergy conservation programs including funding, to help consumers reduce their electricity consumption. For more information on PowerStream’s conservation programs please visit www.powerstream.ca/conservation.

What is a kilowatt-hour (kWh)?

Although most customers know that electricity pricing is based on kilowatt-hours (kWh), few know what this particular unit of measure is. Simply put, a kilowatt-hour is the equivalent of using 1,000 watts of electricity continually over one hour or the same as leaving on ten 100-watt incandescent light bulbs or about 50 compact fluorescent light bulbs for an hour.