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In a move its municipal owners say is designed to provide more reliable power to county customers, the Town of Essex announced Friday it’s selling E.L.K. Energy to Windsor’s utility provider Enwin.
“We are confident that this transaction will not only strengthen the infrastructure that E.L.K. Energy Inc. needs to provide affordable, reliable energy, but will also ensure that those needs are met for generations to come,” Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy said in announcing the sale at the town’s municipal headquarters.
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Enwin, which provides power to the city of Windsor, will invest in upgrades to E.L.K,’s infrastructure to address client frustration over power flickers, said Bondy, who chairs the E.L.K. Energy board of directors.
“It has been a really common complaint since before this term of council about the frequency of flickers and outages in all the E.L.K service territory,” she told the Star after the formal announcement.
“People say they don’t want to move to our community because of the power flickers. So we hope this is one way we can give them some faith that it’ll be better.”
E.L.K. Energy provides power to more than 12,600 residential, commercial and industrial customers in Belle River, Comber, Cottam, Essex, Harrow and Kingsville.
The announcement did not include a price for the deal. Bondy said that is usually revealed by the Ontario Energy Board once any such sale is approved.
“Even back in the previous term of council, there was a lot of questions around E.L.K. and the sustainability that that we were capable of,” said Bondy. “We’re a very small utility, so there’s a lot of challenges in keeping up with … future technology and staff resources.”
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The town looked at potential buyers for E.L.K. before choosing Enwin, Bondy said. “At the end of the day, Enwin really rose above the rest of them in terms of what they could offer us and the relationship that we could have.”
E.L.K. customers will continue to receive their energy bills under that name in the short term. Bondy said the transition to Enwin will not lead to an increase in property taxes for residents in the Town of Essex.
E.L.K. would have taken decades to make the capital investments necessary to improve power service given the company’s aging infrastructure, she said.
“It would have taken us 15 to 20 years to try to get E.L.K. where it should be today. So, we hope with the help of a company like Enwin that has more resources, more staff, we can get there faster.”
The sale comes after a lengthy period of self-examination going back to the previous council, said Bondy. In 2008, Essex bought the outstanding shares of E.L.K. from Kingsville and Lakeshore, resulting in the town becoming the sole shareholder of the company.
“When the Town of Essex purchased the shares from Kingsville and Lakeshore, it was purchased as an investment, but it really hasn’t turned out to be an investment for the Town of Essex, because it’s kind of been almost a money pit.”
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The previous board of E.L.K. had a “mantra” focusing on low rates and paying off debt, resulting in a lack of investment in infrastructure, she said.
E.L.K.’s staff, including 20 union members and four non-union officials, will be absorbed by Enwin. The town will also have a seat on Enwin’s board of directors for 10 years.
Enwin CEO Garry Rossi said the purchase fits with the Windsor company’s goal “to guide, innovate and grow our customers’ access to safe and reliable energy.
“The decision to acquire E.L.K. Energy aligns seamlessly with Enwin’s strategic vision for growth, innovation and regional collaboration and strengthens our position as a utility dedicated to connecting communities,” Rossi said.
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Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said the efficiency and resilience Enwin can provide will help foster economic development in the region.
“We have to have the power where it needs to be, when it needs to be, in a safe and reliable manner,” he said.
Enwin Utilities is the licensed electricity distribution company serving Windsor, and is also responsible for the service and maintenance of the local electricity distribution infrastructure.
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