Mayor Robert Lefebvre had one answer to the spate of rumours about Hawkesbury Hydro going on the sale block.

« Hawkesbury Hydro has not been sold, » said the mayor during a phone interview December 13.

Mayor Lefebvre was responding to rumours and comments appearing on Facebook that the municipal electricity distributor was sold or was in the process of being sold. The mayor said that if there were any plans or proposals to sell Hawkesbury Hydro, they would have to go through council first.

« Hawkesbury Hydro cannot be sold, or any of its assets sold, without it first going through council, » he said.

Hydro Hawkesbury Inc., the official name of the company, is the local electricity distributor for the Town of Hawkesbury. The municipality is the owner and sole shareholder of Hawkesbury Hydro.

The company was incorporated in November 2000 in its present capacity, and is a publicly regulated service with local distribution costs for electricity approved by the Ontario Energy Board. Hawkesbury Hydro employs five staff and its latest customer figures are almost 5500 clients within its distribution area.

The history of Hawkesbury`s local power distribution system dates back to to the early 1800s when water power provided electricity for the operation of local mills. Over the decades the Gatineau Power Company, which was part of Canadian International Paper, managed the power supply for Hawkesbury.

The desire for a more independent municipal hydro service resulted in the creation of the Hawkesbury Hydro-Electric Commission (HHC) in 1954. During the 1990s, the provincial plan for deregulation as part of changes to Ontario`s electricity market, resulted in reincorporation of the HHC as Hydro Hawkesbury Inc. in 2000, with the municipality assuming full ownership and control of its energy distribution from Gatineau Power/Hydro Québec.