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TORONTO, Jan. 10, 2013 /CNW/ - Today, Hydro One was awarded one of the Edison Electric Institute's 2012 Emergency Assistance Awards for supporting the recovery efforts from the June 2012 Mid-Atlantic and Midwest derecho and Hurricane Sandy. The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) is the association of U.S. shareholder-owned electric companies that annually recognizes member companies that put forth outstanding efforts to restore service promptly to the public following a storm or natural disaster.

"Our employees' skills and experience were needed in these difficult situations and we are proud that we were able to respond," said Carmine Marcello, President and CEO, Hydro One. "Hydro One and the electricity sector have a long-standing shared history of responding in situations like this. We all know that timely restoration of electricity is critical to the health and economic well-being of our communities."

On July 1, 2012, 200 Hydro One employees travelled to Washington D.C, Baltimore and Virginia after the derecho passed through the region and knocked out power to more than three million homes and businesses.

On November 1, 2012, Hydro One dispatched 225 employees to Long Island, NY to assist in power restoration efforts after Hurricane Sandy knocked out power to millions of residents.

Hydro One has reciprocal agreements in place with North American utilities to provide assistance during significant power outages. In mutual assistance situations, all costs are covered by the utility receiving the help.

In 2007, Hydro One became the only non-U.S. utility to be awarded the Edison Electric Institute's "Emergency Recovery Award" in recognition of outstanding efforts in restoring electric service that has been disrupted by severe weather conditions or other natural events.

Hydro One delivers electricity safely, reliably and responsibly to homes and businesses across the province of Ontario and owns and operates Ontario's 29,000 kilometre high-voltage transmission network that delivers electricity to large industrial customers and municipal utilities, and a 121,000 kilometre low-voltage distribution system that serves about 1.4 million end-use customers and smaller municipal utilities in the province. Hydro One is wholly owned by the Province of Ontario.

SOURCE: Hydro One Inc.