Toronto Hydro receives high marks for its response to the major outages during last December’s ice storm.

The praise is contained in a just released report by an independent review panel.

”Normally Christmas is identified as a time of life, but many Torontonians spent much of Christmas in the dark and in the cold,” said David McFadden, chair of the panel.

”About 400,000 Toronto Hydro customers lost power at one point during the December ice storm, affecting more than one million City residents.”

The report contains 25 recommendations on how to handle similar events in the future.

City Manager Joe Pennachetti, who was part of the panel, considers the report a road map to enhance Toronto’s already strong emergency management planning.

The report will be considered by the City’s Executive Committee July 2.