Amalgamation/”Business as Usual”, it Can be Done!

Background
The new Toronto Hydro is a municipal electric distribution utility located in southern Ontario, Canada on the north west shore of Lake Ontario. It was legislated into being on January 1, 1998 by the Ontario provincial government. It is the amalgamation of six former municipal electric utilities. Here are some facts about the new utility.

Second Largest Municipal Electric Utility in North America
Currently, Distribution Only
Delivers 25 % of Electricity in Ontario
Service Area 646 sq. km.
Population Served: 2,400,000
Customers: 655,000
Employees: 2,000

Control Centers: 4
Transformer Stations: 257
Underground Structures: 25,500
Km Overhead Circuits: 5,500
Km underground Circuits: 5,300

Throughout 1998 a new organization structure was created and populated. During this transition, staff in the new sections that used Geospatial systems had to adjust from servicing the six former areas to servicing four new areas.

Each of the former six AM/FM implementations had been developed differently. Each was at a different point in their data conversion programs and none had converted the same data. There were three different AM/FM software vendors’ products being used. Four of the former electric utilities’ AM/FM systems had been developed differently from the same vendor’s software. No standard symbology was used.