If the officials at Hydro One were as good at solving problems as they are feeding at the public trough and spin-doctoring, we'd have an ideal system...

Sandra Pupatello, Chair of Hydro One.

Looking back at the history of Hydro One, ever since Mike Harris or Ernie Eves decided to ‘privatize’ it as a crown corporation, it has changed chairs like a game of ‘Pin the Tail on the Donkey.’ Each one of them has vowed to clean up the mess, but that too has been passed along like a hot potato.

Going back to 2002, the then Chairman of Hydro One, Eleanor Clitheroe, was fired because she: "used credit cards contrary to company policy. They [Ontario Power Generation Board] said she also obtained club memberships at the company's expense. Many of those memberships had no business-related purpose, the board said. Clitheroe is also said to have used Hydro One service providers to do renovations to her home."

At the time she made over $2.2 million, including $174,000 for a car and $172,000 in vacation pay. Clitheroe also stood to get $6 million in cash if she left Hydro One for any reason, and she stood to receive an annual pension of up to $1 million."

Dalton McGuinty replaced her with Tom Parkinson, only to have him 'resign' a year or so later when it was discovered that he improperly charged his secretary's credit card with $45,000 of expenses.

The most recent appointment is Sandra Pupatello, a former Liberal cabinet minister. She and another political has-been—Bernard Lord,  former premier of New Brunswick—were appointed to the boards by Energy Minister Bob “Let them drink coffee” Chiarelli in November, before the billing trouble erupted at Hydro One and a few weeks before the auditor general found OPG rife with nepotism and paying too much in wages and benefits.

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

Meanwhile, we are close to July, and the most recent headline says: 'Hopeless quagmire': Ombudsman highlights Hydro One complaints’.

The previous chairs of Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation (OPG), James Arnett and Jake Epp respectively, didn’t fare to well, either.

In December 2013, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk reported that salaries, pensions and bonuses at Ontario Power Generation are "significantly more generous" than for comparable positions in the civil service, and have a financial impact on the cost of electricity.

She also stated that, "Earnings and benefits were significantly more generous at OPG than for comparable positions in the Ontario Public Service, and many of OPG's senior executives earned more than most deputy ministers."

Oh, and let us not forget the CEO of Hydro One, Carmine Marcello, who is paid $724,916 per year to say (of the latest fiasco:

“Hydro One has reviewed the ombudsman’s annual report and would like its customers to know that we have been working tirelessly — and have made progress — to resolve the customer service issues currently before us.

“We are taking the opportunity to not only resolve technical problems that resulted from introducing a new billing system, but to also improve service through new customer-friendly policies and by changing our customer service culture.”

However, given Hydro One’s record, I wouldn’t hold my breath!

For the full story, see: Dalton McGuinty and Hydro One (OPG) ... A study in incompetence! (A repost from May 1, 2012)]