October 20, 1997

Based on the evidence of a senior Ontario Hydro official presented to the Ontario Select Committee on Ontario Hydro Nuclear Affairs, Ontario Hydro believes its incremental cost of power over the next five years, mostly from coal-fired stations needed to replace production lost from declining nuclear performance, will be 3.9 cents per KW.h. Even assuming that Ontario Hydro is accurately forecasting its costs, this cost for dirty coal-fired power probably exceeds the total cost of much cleaner high efficiency natural gas-fired power.

On October 6,1997, Ontario Hydro Senior Vice President for Generation John Fox told the Ontario Select Committee on Ontario Hydro Nuclear Affairs:

"We will be increasing our fossil operation by approximately 67 terawatt-hours. This will result in additional coal costs to us of about $2.1 billion over the next five years. Additionally, there’s approximately $500 million total associated with the increased needs of operating the existing fossil fleet, and we anticipate a lost contribution of about $500 million from exiting our export contracts."

Energy Probe’s Tom Adams and Norm Rubin will be making a presentation to the Committee on Monday October 20th from 5-6 PM.