Thank you, Jim.
Good morning, committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today from Toronto.
My name is Ave Lethbridge. I'm the vice-president of human resources and environment, health and safety, at Toronto Hydro.
Toronto Hydro operates an electricity distribution system that delivers electricity to almost one million customers in the city of Toronto. We are one of the largest municipal electricity distribution companies in Canada and distribute approximately 18% of the electricity consumed in Ontario. We own and operate an asset worth $2.4 billion.
We have an opportunity today to discuss our apprentices and trade positions. At Toronto Hydro we have approximately 1,600 employees. These are comprised of skilled trades, engineers, and management professionals in general.
Our vision is to continuously maximize customer and stakeholder satisfaction by providing safe and reliable services in an environmentally responsible way.
The challenges faced by Canada's electricity sector today and in the future, as outlined by Jim, reflect many of the challenges we're facing at Toronto Hydro. In terms of infrastructure renewal, 2011 marked not only our 100th anniversary in service but the completion of the largest annual capital construction program in our history.
On the technology front, we are actively engaged in many of the emerging technologies that Jim mentioned, including the integration into the grid of strategies for electric vehicles and renewables such as solar.
I chair the Canadian Electricity Association human resources committee, a group of very senior human resource leaders across Canada and our CEA member community and companies. Our vision is to shape the future of our companies through innovative people strategies. Ensuring that governments are aware of our current and future HR requirements, both in our industry and our organizations is part of our mandate and is why we're eager to participate in your current study.
At Toronto Hydro over the next 10 years approximately 750 of our employees will be eligible for retirement. That's more than 40% of our current workforce. Many of our employees approaching retirement are highly skilled tradespeople who've acquired extensive knowledge about the complexities of our aging distribution system, including our very complex underground network. It takes almost five years as an apprentice to build the specialized skill sets necessary to perform the work on our distribution grid. As an organization, preparing for this transition requires an increased focus on and investment in recruitment selection and skills training programs and initiatives.
I'd like to highlight some of the initiatives we're undertaking as a company to increase awareness about careers in our industry and company, particularly for young people.
Faced with the challenge of renewing an aging workforce, Toronto Hydro has developed an outreach strategy to ensure we attract and retain top talent. In 2011 alone we participated in seven college and university career fairs and events. Overall we have hired and trained over 200 new trades employees and helped them successfully complete their four-year apprenticeship.
In terms of ensuring we have qualified workers to operate the distribution system of the future, we are collaborating with universities to develop innovative and technologically advanced solutions to modernize our distribution system.
We are also working with Georgian College's School of Engineering Technology to help shape the curriculum for the electrical engineering technician and technology programs. Toronto Hydro will invest over $750,000 with Georgian College over the next five years.
In 2011, in addition to our partnership with Georgian College, we collaborated with Ryerson University's Centre for Urban Energy, the University of Toronto, Humber College, Mohawk College, and York University.
An initiative that we are particularly proud of is the municipal utility trades apprenticeship program that is recognized by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. We are one of three qualified trade schools in the province. We provide our graduates with trade-specific apprenticeship programs for power line technicians, certified power cable persons, a distribution systems technologist, leader technicians, and power systems controllers. This helps to ensure that the apprentices graduate with the necessary proficiencies to fulfill these positions at our utility.
Each program also includes a cooperative education component where students who work at Toronto Hydro gain practical experience working alongside our staff.
In 2011, Toronto Hydro hired 43 apprentices—12 certified power line persons, 13 certified power cable persons, 12 distribution systems technologists, and 6 power systems controllers.
In 2011, Toronto Hydro had almost 300 co-op placements to support the development of skilled professionals for the energy industry. Over half of those co-ops were from the engineering technician-technologist diploma program.
Our selection process and commitment to—