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“The last 10 years of my life I have spent in agriculture, automotive and light manufacturing, dealing with how to improve the customer experience,” Lister said. “I have picked up and learned a lot, and I would like to apply to this industry, through some of the basic blocking and tackling methods.”

Lister said Hydro One, which serves about four million people, also wants to improve communication with customers through its call centres.

Prior to the creation of Hydro One in 1999, Ontario Hydro employed customer service staff in small communities where it provides power across Ontario. Now Hydro One contracts the French multinational Capgemini, operating in Ontario as Inergi LP, which employs 400 people who answer Hydro One customer calls at two call centres: in Markham and London, Ont. Hydro One does not serve customers in either community.

Lister, who is not himself a Hydro One customer, said the problem often is that the people answering Hydro One calls have no authority to resolve customer issues.

“How do we train the agents so they have the authority to make some decisions?” asks Lister. “They could work with customers to find the right installment program for them.”

Carol Paranuik, a customer in Madoc Township in eastern Ontario struggling with crippling electricity bills, said she would welcome some improvement in customer service.

“If they could make an actual Hydro One employee available when someone calls, that would help a lot,” she said. Her husband, Dave Paranuik, spent his career as a customer service representative for what was Ontario Hydro in Tweed, Ont., an office that is now shuttered.