Hydro One Drops on Report C$4.5 Billion in Repairs Needed
- Transformers, wood poles, circuit breakers need replacing
- Reliability worsening and costs increasing, auditor says
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Hydro One Ltd., which went public last month in Canada’s largest initial stock offering in 15 years, slumped after a provincial auditor’s report warned the power utility’s transmission system was increasingly unreliable and will cost the province billions to fix.
The report, from Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk, said the number of key components of Hydro One’s transmission network -- including transformers, circuit breakers and wood poles -- that were in service past their normal replacement date ranged from 8 percent to 26 percent and would cost the company about C$4.47 billion ($3.34 billion) to replace. That’s more than 600 percent more than the $621 million the company spent on maintenance for 2014.