Sandra Pupatello named new Hydro One chair

Ontario will be appointing Sandra Pupatello as chair of the board of directors of Hydro One.

Bernard Lord will be named chair of the board of directors of the Ontario Power Generation.

The appointments will be effective April 1.

Pupatello is a former cabinet minister of Dalton McGuinty's Ontario Liberals. She lost the Liberal leadership to Kathleen Wynne last year. She is now the CEO of Windsor Essex Economic Development Corp. and director of business development and global markets at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

• Hydro One probe by ombudsman gets 2,500 more complaints

Ontario's ombudsman, Andre Marin, is currently looking into Hydro One's billing practices. Since his office announced its investigation in early February, it hasreceived roughly 2,500 complaints. The total number of complaints about Hydro One now stands at more than 3,100.

In some cases, Marin said, customers' houses burned down and theycontinued to receive hydrobills.

In February, Hydro One president and CEO Carmine Marcello issued customers a letter of apology.

If we have made a mistake on a bill, we will not charge interest. If we find that we have overbilled you, we will offer a refund cheque, he wrote. You deserve bills that are clear, timely and accurate.

Pupatello, who joined the Hydro One board in late 2013, blamed the billing problems on "a significant IT change to the billing system."

"There were, frankly, an awful lot of snafus and a customer response the board was not happy with," Pupatello said. "We need to fix that. Its unacceptable. We need to be more open about what is happening and the decisions the government takes and how it impacts on energy."

Pupatello's former party embroiled itself in a multi-billion-dollar scandal by cancelling a pair of gas plants during the 2011 provincial election.

"I did leave politics in 2011," Pupatello said. "Following that, a lot of things changed. The government has taken a lot of steps to right that energy ship."

Pupatello lost the Ontario Liberal leadership race to Kathleen Wynne in 2013.

Pupatello, who said she was appointed by Minister of Energy Bob Chiarelli, replaces James Arnett. Lord replaces Jake Epp.

"Ontarios energy agencies continue to conduct business in a responsible manner that respects the interests of Ontario ratepayers. Id like to thank the outgoing Chairs, Mr. Epp and Mr. Arnett, and I am confident Ms. Pupatello and Mr. Lord will continue to provide thoughtful guidance needed to move our electricity sector forward," Chiarelli said in a media release.

Lord is the former Premier of New Brunswick and current president and CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunication Association.

Three OPG executives were fired in December after the auditor general released a damning report about generous salaries, pensions and bonuses at the utility.