Hydro Ottawa drives green efforts with 15 per cent EV fleet and customer decarbonization initiatives

OTTAWA, ON, April 21, 2026 /CNW/ - Today, Hydro Ottawa Group (Hydro Ottawa) is proud to announce its selection as one of Canada's Greenest Employers for the 15th year. This prestigious designation recognizes the utility's dual role as a leader in sustainable operations and a critical partner in helping the customers it serves transition to a net-zero future.

Hydro Ottawa employees stand next to their electric fleet. (CNW Group/Hydro Ottawa Group)

Guided by its own goal to achieve net-zero operations, Hydro Ottawa is accelerating its internal sustainability efforts while simultaneously expanding its grid capacity to meet increasing demand for electrification. From an expanding electric vehicle (EV) fleet to comprehensive carbon-pathway studies for its facilities, the utility is demonstrating that going green is both an environmental necessity and an operational advantage.

Central to this year's recognition is Hydro Ottawa's proactive support for its customers' decarbonization journeys. The utility has a dedicated team to help customers reduce electricity consumption and improve efficiency through initiatives such as lighting retrofits, solar generation installations, and shifting to off-peak energy usage. Utilizing federal funding received two years ago, the utility provides commercial customers with third-party consulting services to audit operations. These audits deliver comprehensive decarbonization plans, enabling customers to achieve their net zero goals.

Quick Facts

• Fleet electrification: The 10-person field operators' unit at Hydro Ottawa Limited, a subsidiary of Hydro Ottawa Group, is the organization's first unit with a fully electric mobile fleet, consisting of three electric pickup trucks. Currently, 15 per cent of the company's total fleet is electrified, with 70 EV chargers installed across its work centres.
• Operational savings: Removing just one of the field operators' gasoline pickup trucks from the road saves approximately $11,000 in fuel costs and 26 metric tonnes of CO2 per vehicle, per year - equivalent to the annual electricity use of nearly 24 homes.
• Decarbonizing the city: Hydro Ottawa is hyper-focused on making it easier for organizations in its community to participate in a sustainable energy future. In the final year of its strategic roadmap program, Hydro Ottawa has helped create decarbonization pathways for over 150 buildings in Ottawa, providing commercial customers with a 10-to-20-year plan for electrification and energy efficiency.
• Leading by example: Hydro Ottawa has completed carbon pathway studies for four of its major buildings, integrating these findings into its capital planning to transform its own facilities into low-carbon hubs.
• Renewable generation: Portage Power, Hydro Ottawa's renewable generation subsidiary, remains Ontario's largest municipally-owned producer of green power, with hydroelectric, solar, and landfill gas-to-energy facilities generating 131 megawatts of renewable electricity (enough to power 110,000 homes annually).
• Sustainable infrastructure: Hydro Ottawa's main office and two operations centres are LEED Gold certified. Solar energy generation at these facilities offsets approximately 25 per cent of energy demand at the East Campus and 80 per cent at the South Campus.
• Waste diversion: The utility continues to divert more than 90 per cent of its waste from landfills through robust recycling and metal reclamation programs for copper wire, steel, and aluminum.
• Grid innovation: To support local decarbonization, Hydro Ottawa is designing programs that partner with customers to leverage their own devices, such as EVs and batteries, to address grid needs and provide incentives for sustainable choices.

Quote

"Sustainability is no longer a choice to be weighed, but rather, the blueprint for our industry's future. As a company, our mandate extends beyond operational excellence; we are the architects of an ecosystem that empowers our customers to realize their own climate ambitions. This recognition is a testament to our employees, whose tireless pursuit of innovation is building a cleaner, more resilient Ottawa."

– Bryce Conrad, President and Chief Executive Officer

About Hydro Ottawa Group

Hydro Ottawa Holding Inc. [operating under the brand 'Hydro Ottawa Group'] is a private company 100 per cent owned by the City of Ottawa and whose strategic business lines include electricity distribution, renewable energy generation, energy solutions, telecommunications and utility services. As a future-powered energy provider and partner in key green energy projects, the Hydro Ottawa Group is committed to innovation, community and sustainability. It owns and operates four primary subsidiary companies that drive its vision for a dynamic energy future: Hydro Ottawa Limited – a local distribution company that delivers electricity to approximately 372,000 customers in Ottawa and Casselman; Portage Power – the largest municipally-owned producer of renewable energy in the province of Ontario with 131 megawatts of installed green generation capacity (enough to power 110,000 homes); Envari – an innovative energy solutions company offering products and services designed to improve energy efficiency and drive cost savings for municipalities, industrial and business clients, governments and utilities; and hiboo networks – a high-speed fibre optic network solutions and internet services company focused on powering a strong digital future by providing secure and scalable connectivity for customers in the Ottawa-Gatineau region.

Learn more: hydroottawagroup.com

SOURCE Hydro Ottawa Group

Media contact: Susan Fekete, Manager, External and Corporate Affairs, Hydro Ottawa Group, [phone] x2345, [email protected]; www.hydroottawagroup.com