What Westario Power actually does
In the small towns and villages of Bruce, Grey and Huron counties, Westario Power Inc. wears two hats at once. It is the distributor that owns the poles, overhead lines, transformers and meters inside the licensed footprint, AND it is your default supplier under Ontario's Standard Supply Service rules. The bill that arrives at your home covers both jobs and the per-kWh rate it charges is set by the OEB.
Westario is unusual among small Ontario LDCs because it has seven municipal shareholders, not one. The Municipality of Brockton, the Town of Hanover, the Township of Huron-Kinloss, the Municipality of Kincardine, the Town of Saugeen Shores, the Municipality of South Bruce Peninsula and the Township of Arran-Elderslie jointly own the company through a holding structure. Any dividend flows back to those municipal budgets rather than to outside investors, supporting local capital works and social programs.
- Owns 746 km of distribution lines, transformers and smart meters
- Restores power after outages (24/7 toll-free line)
- Sends the monthly bill at the OEB's RPP rate
- Owned by seven Bruce/Grey/Huron municipal shareholders
- Replaces the commodity portion of the bill only
- Door-to-door sales banned (ECPA 2010)
- Delivery + Global Adjustment + regulatory unchanged
- Westario still owns the wires and meter
In December 2025, the Westario board announced a proposed sale to ERTH Corporation. The deal has been recommended to shareholders and would expand ERTH Power's service territory. Unless and until any sale closes (subject to municipal approvals and OEB review), Westario Power continues to operate as the licensed LDC. Check westario.com and OEB filings for status updates.
Where Westario Power delivers power
In plain words: if you live or run a business inside one of the seven shareholder municipalities (Brockton, Hanover, Huron-Kinloss, Kincardine, Saugeen Shores, South Bruce Peninsula or Arran-Elderslie) and you are inside the licensed urban footprint, Westario Power is your distributor. Surrounding rural farming country is generally served by Hydro One Networks.
- •Kincardine, Port Elgin, Southampton on the Lake Huron shore (including the Bruce Power neighbourhood)
- •Hanover, Walkerton, Mildmay, Neustadt in the inland centres
- •Wingham, Lucknow, Teeswater, Ripley in Huron and Bruce
- •Palmerston, Harriston, Clifford, Elmwood and other small villages
- •Rural farming areas outside the urban footprint → Hydro One Networks
- •Owen Sound → Hydro One Networks
- •Goderich → Erie Thames Powerlines
- •Collingwood, Thornbury → EPCOR Ontario
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 Westario'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 Westario Power invoice. The bill structure is identical to any other mainland Ontario LDC bill, including the OEB-set commodity rate, the Global Adjustment, the Ontario Electricity Rebate and HST.
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 (peak/mid/off-peak), Tiered (low- and high-block) or Ultra-Low Overnight (for EV owners).
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; bigger customers see it as its own line.
The cost of moving electricity from the IESO-controlled grid through Westario's 746 km of 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, the Wholesale Market Service Rate and a few other system-wide charges. 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. Appears at the bottom of the bill.
Westario's delivery rate is set by the OEB under its incentive rate-setting framework, most recently approved through application EB-2023-0058 for 2024 rates. Rates are filed publicly on the OEB's eFiling portal and can be examined line by line.
A practical implication: if a licensed retailer offers a low fixed per-kWh rate, you'll still pay the same Westario delivery and regulatory charges, the same Global Adjustment, the same HST. Switching retailers changes the commodity portion of your bill; switching never changes Westario'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: toll-free outage + Walkerton office
Westario keeps the outage line and the customer-service line on two distinct numbers. The 24/7 toll-free outage line covers the entire footprint; the local Walkerton office handles billing, moves, account changes and new connections during business hours.
Outages, downed wires, safety emergencies across all 15+ communities. For a downed live wire, call 911 first.
Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (general enquiries; email [email protected])
RR #2, 24 Eastridge Road
Walkerton, ON N0G 2V0
My Account, paperless billing and rate selection at westario.com
For non-urgent questions you can also use Westario's online tools at https://westario.com. The Walkerton office serves as the primary point of contact for the seven shareholder municipalities and for any rate-related questions.
Report a power outage
If your power is out, the fastest path is to call 1-866-978-2746. The toll-free line is staffed 24/7 and covers the entire Bruce-Grey-Huron footprint. Outage information and planned-outage notices are published at westario.com/outages.
Call 1-866-978-2746. Have your address and account number ready.
The control room pinpoints which feeder or substation is affected and assigns a local crew.
Single faults: usually minutes to under an hour. Storm-wide events across 746 km of rural lines: longer, especially after winter ice or summer wind storms.
Power is verified at the smart meter. Reset clocks, check freezer contents, and report any damage right away via Westario's claims process.
Reliability in plain numbers (2024 OEB scorecard)
In 2024 the average Westario customer was without power for 1.19 hours, below the distributor target of 1.64 hours and below the five-year rolling average of 1.65. SAIFI came in at 0.57 interruptions per customer, on-par with the target. Both metrics indicate steady reliability improvement on a rural network where weather, agricultural traffic and wildlife are the main outage drivers.
Planned outages for maintenance are normally posted at least 48 hours in advance by mail or notice to affected addresses and on the westario.com outage hub. If you depend on medical equipment, register with Westario's medical-needs program so you receive priority notification.
New connection or service upgrade
For a new build, a service upgrade (e.g. 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 inside Westario's footprint, you deal with Westario Power. Start at https://westario.com or call 519-507-6937.
The civic address and the legal description of the lot inside one of the seven shareholder municipalities.
A sketch showing where you want the meter, service entrance, and run-back to the nearest pole or pad.
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. Westario cannot energise until ESA clears it.
For routine residential connections once all conditions are met. Complex builds or service upgrades requiring civil work can run several months.
Fixed component + per-metre charge above the contribution threshold defined in Westario'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 (Time-of-Use, Tiered or Ultra-Low Overnight) at any time by contacting Westario.
Moving home, transferring or closing a service
In Bruce, Grey and Huron counties, the move-in / move-out conversation starts with Westario Power directly. Westario closes the old billing account, sets up the new one and triggers the final meter read. Most move requests need at least 1 to 2 business days of notice; 5 is safer for end-of-month moves.
Call 519-507-6937 or email [email protected]. Give them the move date and your new address.
1 to 2 business days minimum; allow 5 for month-end moves. Same-day service is rare.
On the move-out date, Westario records the final reading remotely from the smart meter; no in-person visit required.
A closing bill covers 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 carries over by default; ask Westario if you want to change it at the new address.
Opening a fresh account is required at the new LDC. Common destinations from Bruce-Grey-Huron include rural Hydro One Networks territory, Goderich (Erie Thames Powerlines) and Owen Sound (Hydro One Networks).
Meters, meter reading and accuracy
Westario Power owns the meter at your address. Since the province-wide smart-meter rollout was completed in 2010-2011, virtually every Westario residential and small-business address is equipped with a smart meter that supports the OEB's Time-of-Use, Tiered and Ultra-Low Overnight pricing structures.
Every Westario residential address. Consumption reports back to Westario on its own; no action from you, no estimated bills.
Westario 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 Westario 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 Westario to report its reliability performance every year. 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 Westario Power. The claim is evaluated on negligence.
- +Equipment failure (transformer, pole, 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 (raccoons, squirrels on lines)
- ×Third-party contact (vehicle hits pole, dig-in)
- ×Planned outages notified in advance
Most 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; they are the only basis on which any claim can be evaluated.
Regulator and complaint escalation
If you can't resolve something directly with Westario, there's 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 Westario's distribution tariff (most recently EB-2023-0058) and reviews service-quality reporting (scorecards). Also handles any sale-related applications and runs the OEB Consumer Protection Office for individual disputes.
Administers Ontario Regulation 22/04, audits Westario's distribution-asset safety practices and tracks the Serious Electrical Incident Index. Issues electrical permits for in-house wiring.
Most issues resolve here. Phone 519-507-6937 (Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) or email [email protected].
If the front line can't fix it, request a written decision in writing. 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.