What Bluewater Power actually does (and why your bill says "Bluewater Power" at the top)
Ontario's electricity market is structured very differently from Alberta's. Bluewater Power wears two hats at once: it is the distributor that owns the poles, transformers and smart meters across Sarnia, Point Edward, Petrolia, Oil Springs, Watford, Warwick and Alvinston, AND it is your default supplier under Ontario's Standard Supply Service (SSS) rules. The bill that arrives at your home in Sarnia or any of the six surrounding villages covers both jobs.
The per-kWh rate Bluewater Power charges most residential and small-business customers is set by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) twice a year in its Regulated Price Plan (RPP), with three structures to choose from: Time-of-Use, Tiered or Ultra-Low Overnight. Long-term fixed-rate retailer contracts exist but are a niche market, and signing one does not change the delivery, regulatory or Global Adjustment lines on your bill, only the commodity portion.
- Owns the wires, transformers, smart meters across 5 municipalities
- Restores power after outages (24/7 dispatch)
- Sends the monthly bill at the OEB's RPP rate
- Fixed by address: every Sarnia-Lambton property is served by Bluewater Power
- Replaces the commodity portion of the bill only
- Door-to-door sales banned (ECPA 2010)
- Delivery + Global Adjustment + regulatory unchanged
- Bluewater Power still owns the wires and meter
Bluewater Power's footprint spans urban Sarnia plus a handful of small villages along the Lambton-County township-road network (Watford, Alvinston, Warwick). Outage durations on the village feeders tend to be longer than in central Sarnia because crews drive further. The Sarnia HQ on Confederation Street handles all of it under one operating centre.
Where Bluewater Power delivers power
In plain words: if you live or run a business inside the City of Sarnia, the Village of Point Edward, the Town of Petrolia, the Village of Oil Springs, the Village of Watford, the Township of Warwick or the former Town of Alvinston, Bluewater Power is your distributor. The surrounding rural Lambton County addresses belong to Hydro One Networks.
- •Sarnia (whole city)
- •Point Edward (village immediately west of Sarnia)
- •Petrolia, Oil Springs, Watford
- •Warwick (township) and Alvinston
- •Chatham-Kent, Strathroy-Caradoc, Parkhill, Dutton, Newbury → Entegrus Powerlines
- •Windsor → ENWIN Utilities
- •London → London Hydro
- •Rural Lambton County → Hydro One Networks
Not sure which one applies to your address? Check your most recent electricity bill: the distributor's name and OEB licence number are printed at the top of the first page.
How Bluewater Power's charges appear on your bill
An Ontario electricity bill is broken into a handful of distinct line items, all of which appear on the same Bluewater Power invoice. Unlike Alberta, where the commodity is billed separately by your retailer, in Ontario almost every household sees a single integrated bill where Bluewater Power acts as both the wires company and the OEB-default supplier.
The per-kWh rate set by the OEB twice a year in the Regulated Price Plan. You pick one of three structures: Time-of-Use, Tiered or Ultra-Low Overnight.
Funds the difference between the market price and the long-term contracts the IESO signed for nuclear, hydro, wind, solar and conservation. RPP customers see this rolled into the commodity rate.
The cost of moving electricity from the IESO-controlled grid through Bluewater Power's wires to your meter. Includes a fixed monthly service charge plus a per-kWh distribution rate set by the OEB.
Small line covering OEB programs and the Wholesale Market Service Rate. Set by the OEB and applied uniformly across Ontario LDCs.
A provincial credit that reduces the pre-tax subtotal by a percentage set by the government (currently around 13 %). Applied automatically to eligible residential, farm and small-business accounts.
The 13 % federal-provincial sales tax applied to the post-rebate subtotal. Cannot be avoided; appears at the bottom of the bill.
Bluewater Power's delivery rate is approved by the OEB through periodic rate applications. Rates are filed publicly on the OEB's eFiling portal and can be examined line by line by any customer or consumer advocate. The multi-municipality shareholder structure means rate applications must be reviewed by each shareholder council before filing.
A practical implication: if a licensed retailer offers a low fixed per-kWh rate, you will still pay the same Bluewater Power delivery and regulatory charges, the same Global Adjustment, the same HST. Switching retailers changes the commodity portion of your bill; switching never changes Bluewater Power's portion.
Peak (4-7pm), mid-peak, off-peak. Best for households that can shift heavy use to evenings and weekends.
A low block for the first ~600 kWh per month (residential), a higher block above. Best for steady, modest users.
Very cheap from 11pm to 7am, much more expensive 4-9pm. Best for EV owners or anyone who can charge overnight.
Contact details: two separate numbers
Bluewater Power runs a dedicated outage hotline (226-896-2200) separately from its general customer care number (226-896-1010). Outages are the only thing you call the first number for; the second handles billing, account changes, moves, new connections and conservation programmes.
Outages, downed wires, electrical emergencies. For a downed live wire, call 911 first.
Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (24/7 for outage reporting)
855 Confederation Street
P.O. Box 2140
Sarnia, ON N7T 7L6
Outage map + FAQ on bluewaterpower.com
For non-urgent questions you can also use Bluewater Power's online tools: the outage centre and the customer portal on https://bluewaterpower.com. As Ontario's seventh-largest LDC, Bluewater Power processes hundreds of thousands of customer interactions a year and its scorecard performance is reported annually to the OEB.
Report a power outage
If your power is out, the fastest path is to call 519-337-8201. Crews are dispatched 24/7. Active outages and restoration estimates are published on the outage centre, which covers all Bluewater Power communities.
Call 519-337-8201 or check the outage centre online. Have your address and account number ready.
The system pinpoints which feeder, transformer or substation is affected and assigns a crew or pole patrol.
Central Sarnia faults often clear within an hour; rural-village faults on long feeders to Watford, Alvinston or Oil Springs can take significantly longer.
Power is verified at the smart meter. Reset clocks, check freezer contents, and report any damage right away via Bluewater Power's claims process.
Reliability in plain words
Bluewater Power reports its reliability performance to the OEB every year in its public scorecard. The two headline metrics are SAIDI (average hours a customer was off in a year) and SAIFI (average number of interruptions per customer per year). After the merger, the OEB requires Bluewater Power to report combined performance against the merged service area's distributor-specific target. The full year-by-year scorecard is on the OEB's distributor-scorecard registry.
Planned outages for maintenance are normally posted at least 48 hours in advance on the outage centre. If you depend on medical equipment, register with Bluewater Power's priority-notification programme so you are flagged before any planned interruption.
New connection or service upgrade
For a new build, a service upgrade (e.g. moving from 100 A to 200 A for an EV charger or heat pump), a temporary construction service, or any work that requires changes to the physical wires or meter, you deal with Bluewater Power. Start at https://bluewaterpower.com or call 519-337-8201. Routine residential connections target the OEB's 5-business-day standard once all conditions are met.
The civic address and legal description of the lot inside one of Bluewater Power's five municipalities.
A sketch showing where you want the meter, service entrance and run-back to the pole or pad-mounted transformer.
The amperage (100 A, 200 A, 400 A…) and voltage you need, signed off by your Master Electrician.
An Electrical Safety Authority permit and ESA sign-off once the in-house wiring is done. Bluewater Power cannot energise until ESA clears it.
For routine residential connections once all conditions are met. Complex builds or service upgrades that require civil work can run several months.
Fixed component + per-metre charge above the contribution threshold defined in Bluewater Power's Conditions of Service.
Once the wires are in, your account opens automatically under Standard Supply Service at the OEB's Regulated Price Plan rate. You can switch your RPP structure (TOU, Tiered or ULO) at any time by contacting Bluewater Power. If you sign with a licensed retailer later, the retailer registers their contract with Bluewater Power and the commodity rate is replaced on your next bill cycle.
Moving home, transferring or closing a service
In Sarnia-Lambton, the move-in / move-out conversation starts with Bluewater Power directly, not with a separate retailer. Because Bluewater Power is the default supplier, it closes the old billing account, sets up the new one, and triggers the final meter read. If you have a licensed retailer contract you also notify the retailer separately so they can transfer or cancel their commodity supply. Most move requests need at least 1 to 2 business days of notice; 5 is safer for end-of-month and student-turnover moves around the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University.
Call 519-337-8201 (or use My Account online). Give them the move date and your new address.
1 to 2 business days minimum; allow 5 for month-end moves and university September turnover.
On the move-out date, Bluewater Power records the final reading remotely from the smart meter; no in-person visit required.
Bluewater Power issues a closing bill for the period up to the move-out date. The new address bill starts under a fresh account.
Administrative transfer only. No physical work, no service interruption. Your RPP structure (TOU, Tiered, ULO) carries over by default; ask Bluewater Power if you want to change it at the new address.
Opening a fresh account is required at the new LDC. Common destinations from Sarnia-Lambton include Entegrus Powerlines (Chatham-Kent, St. Thomas), ENWIN Utilities (Windsor), London Hydro and Hydro One Networks (rural).
Meters, meter reading and accuracy
Bluewater Power owns the meter at your address. Since the province-wide smart-meter rollout was completed in 2010-2011, virtually every Sarnia-Lambton residential and small-business address is equipped with a smart meter that supports the OEB's Time-of-Use pricing structure. The meter is the basis for both the consumption side of your bill and the choice between TOU, Tiered or Ultra-Low Overnight RPP structures.
Every Sarnia-Lambton residential address. Consumption reports back to Bluewater Power automatically; no action from you, no estimated bills.
Bluewater Power pulls the meter and tests it on a calibrated bench against Measurement Canada's tolerance.
Download your hour-by-hour consumption via My Account or pipe it directly into an authorised third-party energy app.
If the meter reads outside Measurement Canada's tolerance (typically ±2 %), the test is free and you get a billing adjustment back to the date the fault is presumed to have started. If the meter passes, the test fee is charged to you at the OEB-approved tariff rate.
What do you need to do with Bluewater Power?
Pick an action. The tool shows the right phone, the right link, and what to expect. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Note: under AUC Rule 002, Alberta distributors are not required to pay automatic compensation for outages. Damage claims are evaluated case-by-case on negligence.
Compensation and damage claims: the honest version
Ontario has no automatic, statutory compensation scheme for individual customers affected by a power outage. Unlike the UK's Ofgem Guaranteed Standards, the OEB's role is to require Bluewater Power to report its reliability performance (SAIDI, SAIFI) every year in its public scorecard. Penalties for under-performance flow from the regulator to the distributor; they do not arrive in your mailbox as a credit.
If your fridge or freezer contents spoiled, an appliance was damaged by a voltage surge, or you incurred a clear loss during an outage, you can file a damage claim with Bluewater Power. The claim is evaluated on negligence.
- +Equipment failure (transformer, network switch)
- +Crew error during work on the network
- +Switching incident causing voltage spike
- +Unplanned, distributor-caused service interruption
- ×Severe weather (lightning, wind, ice storms)
- ×Wildlife contact (squirrels, raccoons on lines)
- ×Third-party contact (vehicle hits pole, dig-in)
- ×Planned outages notified in advance
Most Sarnia-Lambton home insurance policies cover food spoilage and surge damage at a low excess. If your loss is meaningful, the insurance route is usually faster than a denied utility claim. Keep dated receipts and photos either way.
Regulator and complaint escalation
If you cannot resolve something directly with Bluewater Power, there is a clear escalation ladder in Ontario. The Ontario Energy Board sits at the top as both the economic regulator and the body that handles consumer complaints; the Electrical Safety Authority covers physical-safety issues.
Sets the Regulated Price Plan, approves Bluewater Power's distribution tariff and reviews service-quality reporting. Also runs the OEB Consumer Protection Office for individual disputes.
Administers Ontario Regulation 22/04, audits Bluewater Power's distribution-asset safety practices and tracks the Serious Electrical Incident Index. Issues electrical permits for in-house wiring.
Most issues resolve here. Phone 519-337-8201 (Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) or use the My Account portal.
If the front line cannot fix it, request a written decision. This creates the paper trail needed for the next step.
The OEB investigates complaints involving Ontario LDCs, retailers and unit sub-meter providers. The service is free.
Last resort. For tariff or service-quality issues you can intervene as a registered intervenor in a rate proceeding. For damage claims that are denied, civil court is the final route.