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Author Archives: energyprbe
Pickering groups want full hearings
Efforts to reopen Canada’s oldest nuclear power plant — shut down for two years — aren’t receiving enough scrutiny because the federal government refuses to put the project through a full environmental assessment hearing, say groups of citizens who live near the plant.
Community groups want the government to impose a full series of public hearings and not what they call a "whitewash" review of plans by Ontario Power Generation to resume operations at its Pickering A nuclear facility, east of Toronto.
Electricity restructuring is degenerating into a nightmare on consumers
Mike Harris’s electricity restructuring is degenerating into a nightmare attack on consumers, taxpayers, and the environment. Continue reading
Environmentalists victorious in fate of coal-burning plants
re. "Environmentalists victorious in fate of coal-burning plants" May 18, 2000
The Ontario government’s moratorium on the sale of coal-fired power stations unnecessarily increases the cost of cleaning Ontario’s air.
The Harris government’s coal-fired power station sale moratorium appears to be based on the theory that emissions from government-owned stations do less harm than emissions from privately owned stations. It may be no coincidence that the sale moratorium strengthens the monopoly of the government’s power generation company.
Nuclear power stations face stricter rules
New law replaces antiquated 1946 legislation
OTTAWA – With the sale of an Ontario nuclear power station looming, the federal rules governing atomic energy have just become a lot more stringent.
A private company buying the Bruce power station from the provincial utility, Ontario Power Generation, must now provide financial guarantees covering the huge decommissioning costs.
Province to crack down on hydro rates
Jim Wilson, the Ontario Energy Minister, says he’s cracking down on cities and towns across the province that want to hike electricity rates by as much as 17%.
But a prominent consumer watchdog said the action Mr. Wilson is planning is a meaningless response to a problem that’s been festering for a year.
Summary of Energy Probe's Reasons for Recommending the Replacement of Minister Jim Wilson
At this time of uncertainty in our electricity restructuring, Ontario needs an energy minister who can protect consumers, restore investor confidence, restore the authority of the regulator, and protect taxpayers from politicized decisionmaking. Jim Wilson has undermined the fairness and efficiency of the market by grandfathering the industrial rate discounts to the detriment of small consumers and taxpayers. His legislation currently before the provincial parliament directed at the municipal electric utilities will not protect the long term interests of consumers. Continue reading
British firm pays $912M for Direct Energy
CALGARY – A giant British firm will pay $912-million for the assets of Calgary-based Direct Energy Income Fund, a move that gives Centrica PLC an important toehold as the electrical industry deregulates across North America and ratchets up competition in the key market of Ontario.
Created in 1997 from the privatization of British Gas PLC, Centrica is a $20-billion behemoth that brings marketing expertise and financial might to Direct Energy, the largest unregulated seller of natural gas in Ontario where the bulk of its 820,000 customers reside.
Critics fear higher power rates as new investors await Ontario deregulation
Consumers in Ontario could see higher electricity costs in the short term – as Albertans have already seen – after deregulation opens the market to competition, a consumer watchdog group says.
Bruce nuclear plant leased to British firm
Province says 18-year deal could bring in $3.1 billion.
The privatization of Ontario’s nuclear power network surged into high gear yesterday with the announcement that a British energy giant has signed a long-term lease to operate the aging and often-troubled Bruce nuclear station.
Pickering headache
Will the troubled Pickering A nuclear power station be properly assessed before it fires up its reactors again next year? And is it too old and hazardous to be turned on at all?
Energy Probe 