because the trees were snapping under the weight of the ice, and the falling branches were making contact with the lines, or breaking them. This new wire has an insulating layer around it so that if a tree has brushing contact with it, it won’t cause an outage or a temporary blip. We’re also doing trials with breakaway links. During the ice storm, when the service wire was brought down by the trees, that service wire also brought down the customer’s mast and his/her meter at the base, and only once those repairs have been done can we come in and reconnect. The breakaway link is almost like a mechanical fuse. If the weight of the tree brings down the line, it snaps this mechanical connector, which interrupts power and makes the service wire fall in a controlled way. It’s also de-energized, so we don’t have to worry about a public safety issue.”

servation and Demand Management initiatives resulted in a summer peak demand SUSTAINABLE CITY reduction of 206MW,” says Mr. Johnston. In 2015, 70% of Ontario’s energy was gener“That represents 1,583GWh of energy ated from emission-free sources (nuclear, savings. That means Toronto could build hydro, and wind), with the remaining 30% three hundred more condominium buildings generated from natural gas and biofuel. But without having to generate a watt more even clean energy needs to be managed electricity. The whole idea of a sustainable efficiently.Black “From 2011 to 2014, our Concity is that people will be able to live close + McDonald SBM ad re Toronto Hydro feature 2016.pdf 1 05/18/2016 1:11:17 PM

to their work, and they won’t have to drive: They can walk or take transit. The electrical utility is the only sector that actively markets and encourages its customers to buy less of its product!” On top of these spectacular energy savings, Toronto Hydro has pushed electronic billing and permitting (saving an estimated 124,000 pieces of paper annually),

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