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The Ontario cabinet has ordered Hydro One to cap its next CEO’s annual compensation at $1.5 million.

“There isn’t any room to negotiate on this,” Energy Minister Greg Rickford said Thursday.

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Hydro One had posted a compensation framework that, if accepted by cabinet, would have put a maximum limit on the CEO’s salary of $2.775 million.

The Minister also demanded Hydro One pay its CEO a base salary of $500,000 and that the remaining $1 million in possible compensation be paid as merit pay contingent on meeting short or long-term goals.

Board members are to receive $80,000 a year, not the $140,000 recommended in the compensation framework, and the board chair should be capped at $120,000 rather than the proposed $169,500 in annual pay, Rickford ordered.

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“This is a reasonable and responsible level that more closely aligns compensation with other corporations like Ontario Power Generation, which produces approximately 50% of Ontario’s electricity and operates a fleet of nuclear assets,” Rickford said in a statement.