Author Archives: energyprbe

Fun with figures at Ontario Hydro

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Creating Effective Power Regulation: The Need for Competition and Privatization

 

Paper for

The Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
Power Engineering Society (Toronto section)

Future of The Electric Power Industry In Ontario

November 29-30, 1995
Royal York Hotel, Toronto

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Green power through consumer choice

 

Supplementary Submission to the Advisory Committee on Competition in Ontario’s Electricity System Concerning Renewable Energy

March 18, 1996

225 Brunswick Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2M6
Telephone (416) 964-9223 Facsimile (416) 964-8239

INTRODUCTION

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Energy Probe's position on customer choice and environmental protection

February 27 was a black day for the environment this year. Destec Energy, a prominent U.S. power producer and marketer, had arranged a perfect deal. Destec had access to idle cogeneration capacity in Ontario, had secured an NEB export license, and had U.S. customers lining up. Destec’s cogenerated power would have displaced dirty coal-fired power in the U.S. and improved the energy efficiency of refinery operations in Ontario. The only piece missing in Destec’s plan was transmission access. Continue reading

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The case for breaking up and privitizing Ontario Hydro

Breaking up and privatizing Ontario’s electricity system—now bloated, polluting and propped up by secret rate discounts for big business—will make the system trim, green and fair. With competition, rates would fall as every user gained the right to shop for big power bargains.

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Ontario Hydro history backgrounder: turn-of-the-century seer foretold Ontario Hydro's demise

Between July and December of 1916, while the predecessor of Ontario Hydro was taking on the special powers and institutional structure that the monopoly has today, University of Toronto Political Economy Professor James Mavor, wrote a series of 16 articles in the Financial Post condemning the monopoly’s formation.

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Lower rates promised if Ontario gets competition

Lower rates promised if Ontario gets competition  

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Groups suspect Ontario Hydro violating environmental laws over toxic discharges

TORONTO. A number of environmental groups have formally requested that the Investigations and Enforcement Branch of the Ministry of the Environment and Energy officially investigate Ontario Hydro for discharging tonnes of toxic substances into Lake Ontario. From the Pickering nuclear facility alone, Ontario Hydro may have discharged over 800 tonnes of copper, 360 tonnes of zinc and 25,000 pounds of tin into Lake Ontario since the early 1980s. The toxics come from copper condensers used to cool the processes within the facility. Continue reading

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Relevations spur reactor shutdown in Canada

TORONTO — Ontario Hydro, North America’s largest electric utility and a major investor in nuclear power, is shutting down a third of its reactors after an internal study documented widespread management problems, years of inadequate maintenance and safety practices that were only marginally acceptable.

Allan Kupcis, president and chief executive officer of the company, resigned Tuesday night, on the eve of the public release of the highly critical study by a team of U.S. nuclear power experts.

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Nuclear option is dead

 

Energy-industry expert predicts end of atomic power in Canada

Ontario Hydro’s dramatic decision to shut down seven atomic reactors signifies the end of the nuclear era in Canada, says one of the country’s leading energy industry critics.

"It looks like the nuclear option is dead in Canada," said Tom Adams, the executive director of Energy Probe, a Toronto-based industry watchdog that is opposed to atomic power.

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