TORONTO - Hydro One announced that it is receiving the 2009 Award of Excellence from the Employee Assistance Society of North America's (EASNA). Hydro One will receive the award during the EASNA annual conference in May.

Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) are employee benefit programs offered by employers and are intended to help employees deal with personal problems that might adversely impact their work performance, health, and well-being. EASNA selects one Canadian and one American company each year for the award. Winners must demonstrate a successful partnership with the Employee Assistance Program providers to design and integrate a program that enhances employee well-being and enables the organization to work towards a healthy and productive workplace. An independent panel of judges reviewed submissions and evaluated them on a series of criteria that underscore the importance of integrating the services of an EAP provider to ensure the health and well-being of the company's workforce.

"We are extremely honoured to receive this prestigious award," said Laura Formusa, President and CEO, Hydro One Inc. "At Hydro One, our people underpin everything we do. Making sure we provide meaningful support our employees is critical to their health and well-being and by extension, the health and well-being of the Company."

Hydro One's Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP) provides regular staff and dependent family members with confidential and professional services for a broad range of personal and work-related concerns such as personal and/or job stress, relationship issues, childcare and eldercare, harassment, addictions, nutrition, balancing work and family, parenting, financial or legal concerns. EFAP is a centralized corporate Human Resources program with accountability under the Company's Compensation and Benefits group.

The Employee Assistance Society of North America (EASNA) is a bi-national association whose members consist of individuals, organizations, employers, and students in Canada and the US interested in advancing knowledge, research, and best practices toward achieving healthy and productive workplaces.

Hydro One delivers electricity safely, reliably and responsibly to homes and businesses across the province of Ontario and owns and operates Ontario's 29,000 km high-voltage transmission network that delivers electricity to large industrial customers and municipal utilities, and a 122,000 km low-voltage distribution system that serves about 1.3 million end-use customers and smaller municipal utilities in the province. Hydro One is wholly owned by the Province of Ontario.