MANITOULIN—While there was some obvious disappointment evident during last month’s town hall meeting with Fiona Crean, the new Hydro One Ombudsman, and Ferio Pugliese, the utility’s executive vice president Customer Care and Corporate Affairs, when it was revealed that complaints over the cost of electricity were not within the ombudsman’s mandate as those prices are not set by Hydro One, the meeting did have a very positive outcome for one participant.
“It’s been a rough road for sure,” said Manitoulin Island Community Abattoir Treasurer Jeff Heitkamp of the challenges placed on the not-for-profit by escalating energy costs. Mr. Heitkamp had revealed at the public meeting with the Hydro One Ombudsman held on the evening of December 12 at Manitoulin Secondary School that a late payment by the abattoir has led to a demand for a security deposit by the utility to keep the power flowing.
“There was one good thing that came out of the meeting,” said Mr. Heitkamp, “I got a call the very next day from Hydro One and they arranged to waive the security deposit.”
As Mr. Heitkamp had noted during the meeting with the Hydro One ombudsman, the not-for-profit was having trouble meeting its energy bill, let alone the onerous security deposit, so the relief from the security deposit was just that—a very big relief.
But energy costs are still a major issue for the abattoir going forward, admitted the treasurer.
Although energy costs are a big issue the facility is also facing another challenge in the animals coming into the facility to be processed and sold through the retail arm and outlet channel of the company.
On the face of it, the facility should be going gangbusters, and many local cattlemen do use the facility, but too many of the available cattle on the Island are either going to other facilities to be processed and sold, or are only going part way through the facility—being killed on the floor but not moving through the rest of the facility. The question is why?
“I really don’t know the answer to that question,” said Mr. Heitkamp.
The issue isn’t price. Although the prices at the Manitoulin Island Community Abattoir are slightly higher than those of some other facilities, the all-in costs generally match up fairly closely and certainly much more favourably once the cost of transportation to facilities further afield are taken into account.
No cattlemen contacted by The Expositor were willing to speak on the record—but some did offer their own insights and opinions on background.
Kill schedules were not cited as an issue, the facility usually processes animals one day a week, although that can vary slightly if there are not enough animals scheduled to make a kill day economically viable. “We do have to have a provincial inspector come in and we have to staff for the day,” noted Mr. Heitkamp.
Cash flow concerns have been cited as an issue by some producers, who note other avenues tend to turn around the cheques much faster and therein may lie the rub. The fewer animals processed locally the more challenging spreading costs across those animals becomes.
“It doesn’t cost less to run the coolers if they are only half full,” notes Mr. Heitkamp. So energy costs take a larger bite out of the overall budget per animal. If there are more animals being processed, the largely fixed costs can be spread out better—making the whole operation more efficient and cost effective.
What might be the solution?
“Perhaps just getting the word out to use the abattoir more,” suggested Mr. Heitkamp.
It took a very concerted community effort to get the Manitoulin Island Community Abattoir established and Island farmers contributed en masse to that effort—with most putting up cash infusions during what was at the time a very trying economic environment.
Perhaps solutions to the number of animals being processed through the facility may come from that same community.
