Toronto Hydro failed to notify eight homeowners about plans to replace poles in the city right-of-way at the front of their properties and when those residents complained the responses from the utility were “late, incomplete and sometimes rude,” Ombudsman Susan Opler says.

Opler began an enquiry into the matter after receiving complaints from a number of residents who were upset about a hydro pole replacement project in the vicinity of Danforth and Carlaw avenues back in 2017.

In her report, released on Thursday morning, Opler says that Toronto Hydro failed to notify eight of the 28 affected homeowners that they would be getting new poles, which she said was in direct violation of the utility’s own guidelines.

In one particularly egregious case, Opler said that a homeowner became aware of the project when she noticed a contractor spray painting pole location markings immediately in front of her home.

Opler says that the homeowner complained about the planned location about the pole as it was immediately in front of her home’s only street-facing windows.

Toronto Hydro, however, refused to reconsider the location of the pole and eventually a manger called the homeowner to inform her that it would be installed the following day.

In response, Opler said that the homeowner asked “what would happen if she planted a tree where Toronto Hydro was planning to install the pole.”

The following day, Opler said that two police officers knocked on the homeowner’s door at 7 a.m. and warned her not to interfere with the installation of the pole. Opler said that the incident scared the women’s children and was entirely unnecessary.

She says that while it is unclear about whether the on-site contractor or Toronto Hydro made the decision to call police, the incident highlights the fact that Toronto Hydro lacks procedures on how to handle “difficult customer behavior” and when to engage law enforcement.

“Toronto Hydro overreacted” Opler said in a press release accompanying her report. “The homeowner was simply frustrated and it was unfair to characterize her question as a threat.”

Some staff were disrespectful, Opler says

In her report, Opler said that some staff were “rude or condescending in their dealings with residents” and in two cases failed to provide information about the complaint escalation process when residents “specifically” asked for information about next steps.

She said that there was also an “unacceptable delay” in responding to questions and complaints from affected residents.

In one case, Opler said that a staff member hung up on a homeowner who “was requesting information on how to further appeal or escalate her complaint” and in another case a staff member screamed at a resident who took out their camera to photograph a document Toronto Hydro was using to explain the reasons behind the selected pole location.

Opler said that once news poles were installed, there was also months-long delays in the removal of older poles.

"Toronto Hydro did not treat these people fairly,” Opler said in the press release accompanying her report. “This was not the quality of service Torontonians should reasonably expect.”

13 recommendations

Opler made a total of 13 recommendations in her report, all of which Toronto Hydro has promised to implement.

She is asking Toronto Hydro to “consider using delivery methods that are verifiable” when notifying homeowners about pole work and to “implement a record-keeping protocol for recording oral interactions with residents.”

Opler also says that the utility should “immediately” apologize to the homeowner whose home police were sent to and another homeowner who whose received no response to a number of complaints and questions.

Some of the other recommendations include:

  • That Toronto Hydro consider a process that designates a single contact "expert" responsible for promptly responding to all questions and complaints for projects that affect a large number of residents
  • That Toronto Hydro should develop a policy for when and how staff should respond to challenging customer behaviour, including when and how to engage law enforcement.
  • That Toronto Hydro should provide training and templates to ensure that correspondence with residents is helpful, respectful and sincere in tone and in content
  • That Toronto Hydro should incorporate into its customer service standards the requirement for staff to inform unsatisfied residents about their complaint escalation options.