At the council meeting last year that saw the merger approved, Dan Bertens, the unit chair for Guelph Hydro with IBEW Local 636, said the city’s communications during the process showed that a decision on a merger had already been made.

“The city is trying to sell this merger to the city of Guelph, not giving them an unobstructed look,” Bertens said at the time of the city’s various communications, be it through social media or elsewhere, since the prospective merger with Alectra was first announced, later adding that the survey questions that showed a public support of the deal were worded with the intent of getting that sort of response.

In its written submissions to the OEB, IBEW maintained the merger did not meet the board’s no-harm test, saying the cost savings being projected were highly speculative.

According to a report presented to councillors for the December 2017 vote on the merger, it was noted the move would save people some money on their hydro bills over the next decade, with scheduled distribution rate increases in 2021 and 2026 being skipped.

The Ontario Energy Board allows newly merged utilities to sit out scheduled rate increases for up to 10 years, with rates rebased from that point.

Brian Manninger, business representative for IBEW Local 636, says the OEB did not properly look at the union’s concerns, with the merger potentially leading to the utility growing too big.

“I believe it was done without them looking at it seriously. We wanted to keep Guelph a standalone utility. We believe Alectra, it’ll be another Hydro One in our view,” he says.

Manninger adds that he does not expect to see costs go down, and the result of amalgamating hydro utilities could end up much the same as the municipality mergers seen in Ontario in the 1990s.

“It’s not supported by history. Right now you’re going to have short-term gain, same as most municipalities had through amalgamation,” he said.

“It’s going to be short-term gain, long-term pain, because once your rates come up, you’ve got to pay the piper somewhere, right?”

As a result of the OEB’s decision, as of Jan. 1, 2019, Guelph Hydro will be no more, with the City of Guelph receiving 4.63-per-cent ownership in Alectra, along with a permanent seat with the utility’s board of directors.

“Residents will experience no change in their service,” Thomson says, referring to what residents can expect to see — or not see — when the merger becomes official.

“We expect a smooth transition.”

At the time, it was also announced Alectra would be building a Green Energy and Technology Centre in Guelph — described by Alectra CEO Brian Bentz last year as a “living lab” for the development of new green energy technology.

Thomson says an advisory committee for the new centre has already been meeting to discuss how the project will move forward.

“It’s going to employ probably eight-to-10 full-time positions, we’ve got a $5-million capital budget and a $3-million operating budget,” he says.

“You’ll start to see that take shape very, very quickly after Jan. 1. That pre-planning and that framework, that work has been ongoing for quite a few months now.”