John Spears and Richard Brennan
Toronto Star
July 3, 2002

Ontario could be flirting with power shortages if electricity consumers don’t move quickly to conserve, Energy Minister Chris Stockwell says.

Recent scorching temperatures pushed Ontario to hit near-peak demand yesterday, forcing the province to scramble to buy power from other jurisdictions, including the United States where much of the electricity is produced by highly polluting coal-fired plants.

Temperatures in Ontario yesterday climbed to 35C, the hottest weather Ontarians have experienced this year. Today’s temperature in Toronto is to hit 34C.

The demand also pushed prices into new territory – jumping to 47 cents a kilowatt hour by 5 p.m. yesterday. That’s more than 10 times the regulated price of 4.3 cents a kilowatt hour prior to May 1. By 6 p.m., however, the price had subsided to 8.7 cents a kilowatt hour.

"Demand is high. It has never been this high frankly in the province of Ontario’s history," Stockwell told reporters, adding that it means more pollution and higher energy prices for consumers.

In fact, figures released by the Independent Electricity Market Operator (IMO), which oversees the conduct of electricity producers under the deregulated market, showed demand peaked at 25,075 megawatts – just shy of the 25,269 megawatts set last Aug. 9. But IMO officials said comparisons are difficult because this year’s figures are compiled differently than last year’s.

Stockwell, who is also environment minister, urged people to set their air conditioners at no lower than 26C and avoid using major appliances such as dishwashers, washing machines and dryers until after 8 p.m.

Stockwell was sounding far less confident than a few weeks ago when he said unequivocally there would be no brownouts as he defended opening the electricity market to competition on May 1.

Asked about possible brownouts, Stockwell said the province is expected to have adequate supply, but "you never say never."

"We are experiencing record demands for energy and it’s important that people understand that conservation is the best advice I can give them as minister of the environment and, of course, minister of energy," he told reporters.

"We will work towards having no brownouts and no blackouts," Stockwell said. But "I can’t give you an absolute guaranteed undertaking that something won’t happen."

John Earl, a spokesperson for Ontario Power Generation, which runs the generating plants, said that over the years it has not been unusual for appeals to be made to consumers to conserve electricity during very hot weather.

"I would say it is certainly not a new thing," Earl said.

Yesterday, Stockwell stressed that the pressure on the system has nothing to do with the new deregulated electricity market. But critics jumped all over the government saying the very fears of possible brownouts and insufficient supply are coming true, just as they did in California last year.

"The Tories’ botch-up on electricity is becoming a reality," said Liberal MPP Michael Bryant (St. Paul’s). "They were crowing about what a great job they did with the electricity competition market when, in fact, they failed to get enough back-up power on line to avoid high peak demands such as we are going through right now."

New Democratic Party Leader Howard Hampton said the government has been "caught in a lie" when it said Ontario did not have to worry about the kinds of serious supply problems that California and other jurisdictions experienced when electricity was deregulated.

"People are now susceptible to skyrocketing price increases and we do not have the adequacy of supply which ensures reliability and predictability, and we are at risk of brownouts," Hampton said.

Prior to the spurt at 5 p.m., the price hadn’t reacted strongly to yesterday’s high demand, hovering most of the day at about 8 cents a kilowatt hour. That was substantially below prices in neighbouring U.S. states, where afternoon prices ranged from 18 to 20 cents (U.S.) – or close to 30 cents (Cdn) – a kilowatt hour.

Supplies are tight because generators that were supposed to be adding power to the Ontario grid are not on line, said Tom Adams of Energy Probe.

The Pickering A nuclear station, which can produce 2,000 megawatts of power, was supposed to be up and running this summer, but its refurbishment is nearly a year behind schedule and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget.

New generators fuelled by natural gas and planned by a private firm in Mississauga and Brampton, which combined could produce 1,600 megawatts, are not yet under construction.

Stockwell acknowledged Ontario would have been far better off if Ontario Power Generation had been able to get Pickering A nuclear power plant on line.

When the demand is high the environment suffers because there is greater reliance on coal-fired plants, including Nanticoke, the biggest polluting power plant in Canada, Stockwell said.

"By consumption going up that increases the likelihood of bad air," he said, later telling CFRB radio station, "Obviously the less power you use the better it is for the environment."

Stockwell confirmed Ontario is importing power but refused to say from where.