As a graduate engineer with a passion for our province and its natural resources, Erin is proud of her role with Hydro’s Regulatory Affairs team – professionals who are at the forefront of activities and conversations that directly impact our customers and the future of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Get to know more about Erin, below.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I was raised in Conception Bay South. Throughout high school I gravitated towards STEM courses and programs, participating in SHAD, Forum for Young Canadians, MUN ArcticENGINEER, Canada Wide Science Fair, and WISE NL’s Summer Student Employment Program. After graduation, I enrolled in MUN’s Bachelor of Engineering program, majoring in Civil Engineering based on my interest in geology and love for the environment.

How long have you worked at Hydro?

As part of my engineering program, I completed my last three co-op terms with Hydro, working in Engineering Services (Civil) and Regulatory Affairs. Upon graduation this past April, I joined Hydro’s Regulatory Affairs department as an engineer-in-training.

What made you want to work at Hydro?

When I started my first engineering work term with Hydro a little over two years ago, I very quickly had the opportunity to be involved in meaningful, challenging work – furthering my development both as an engineer and as a working professional. No matter my age, gender or experience level, I always felt that my opinions and contributions mattered to my colleagues and to the company. The culture I observe here everyday is what led me to join Hydro when I graduated. As reflected in Hydro’s core values, this is a culture that is respectful, welcoming and exciting, and encourages diversity of thought and fresh viewpoints.

What does an average day look like for you?

As a graduate engineer with the Regulatory Affairs team, I help develop Hydro’s regulatory strategy and support key technical filings, like rate applications and capital budgets. My day normally starts by reviewing any activities and events happening across our electricity system. After that, it depends! During fall and winter, winter readiness planning and reporting to the Public Utilities Board about any outages or incidents on our system often take precedence. In spring and summer, our team is hard at work on Hydro’s annual Capital Budget Application, which outlines the projects we plan to complete to maintain reliable operation of our system.

Why is your job important at Hydro?

The majority of Hydro’s utility operations are regulated – the sale, generation, transmission and distribution of power to customers in the province, are regulated by the Public Utilities Board. The Board holds full authority for regulatory matters, including the approval of capital expenditures and electricity rates, and our team works diligently to ensure regulatory compliance.

What’s something about your job that you think most people wouldn’t know?

As a regulated utility, the regulatory team at Hydro has a role to play in almost every part of our business. We work closely with many incredible individuals throughout Hydro to produce filings and reports, like our annual capital budget, that allows us to meet our obligations to our customers. Regulatory affairs is an incredibly fast-paced environment with constantly changing targets, and our job is not 9 to 5. Our team works hard to meet deadlines and to ensure our filings to the regulator are of the highest quality, often with tight turnarounds.

When you’re watching the evening news and see an announcement about Hydro, most times my team has had a hand in the information behind the headline. We work to ensure that Hydro provides safe, cost-effective, reliable electricity that you can count on, and harnesses energy opportunities to the benefit of Newfoundland and Labrador.

What’s the most rewarding thing about your job?

I’ve always been very passionate about our province and its incredible natural resources, and I find it both exciting and rewarding to be part of a team that is at the forefront of the activities and the conversations that directly impact the future of Newfoundland and Labrador. Our work affects our families, friends, and neighbours, and that motivates me to do my best to help ensure that Hydro operates transparently, recovers its costs and upholds its mandate to provide safe, least-cost, reliable power that we can count on.