Carmela Fragomeni
The Hamilton Spectator
March 23, 2007

It’s happening in Toronto and Energy Probe says it will eventually happen here and in the rest of Ontario.

"There is a long-term trend among gas and electricity consumers to conserve. That’s the good news," said Tom Adams of Energy Probe. The bad news is some utilities must charge more to recover revenues lost because they are selling less. Toronto’s hydro company wants to increase its distribution rates by 6.3 per cent on May 1, to cover a $10.4-million loss because of energy conservation programs.

Hamilton’s Green Venture EcoHouse manager Pete Wobschall acknowledges someone has to pay for such losses and it’s no doubt going to be the consumer. "Unfortunately, it’s a catch-22." Conserving energy, even if it costs you more, must remain a priority, he said. "We are not doing it to save bucks. We’re doing it to clean the air.

"Here in Hamilton, we have 100 people die from air pollution (a year) and some of that comes from burning coal for electricity."

Michael Buonaguro of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre said higher distribution rates, which are only one section of hydro bills, don’t automatically increase costs to consumers, if they continue to conserve. Higher distribution rates can be offset by lower usage, he said.

This doesn’t necessarily work for low-income families as they can’t afford new energy-efficient appliances and other energy-saving devices.

Hydro companies must find ways to economize to prevent the hikes, said Adams of Energy Probe. He said Union Gas is experiencing a decline in usage but hasn’t raised rates. That shows utilities can find efficiencies equal to revenue losses. "Most (hydro) utilities aren’t smart enough to figure it out yet, and the regulator doesn’t push them hard enough to do it."

The Ontario Energy Board, the rate regulator, is considering compensating utilities for such revenue losses.

Hamilton Hydro users have saved 29 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, enough to power 3,250 homes. Burlington users have cut 1 per cent to 2 per cent of overall consumption. But customers in both cities face little or no increase because of enough growth producing new customers to offset losses.