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Author Archives: energyprbe
Hydro issues a 'delayed timer fuse'
Toronto: Weighed down by a fistful of campaign promises and a bill to taxpayers that has already reached $630 million, Ontario’s incoming Liberal government will soon have its hands full trying to manage the complex hydro portfolio that bedevilled its predecessors.
From reliability of supply and the cost of the retail price cap to the future of the market itself, there is no shortage of electricity issues facing premier-designate Dalton McGuinty.
McGuinty axes hydro price cap
Toronto: Faced with a $5.6-billion deficit left by the previous Tory government, Dalton McGuinty yesterday abandoned his election promise to maintain an electricity price freeze, hiked tobacco taxes and reiterated his pledge to cancel several Tory tax cuts.
"We’re going to do what needs to be done," the new Ontario Premier said a day after the release of an independent report that shows Ontario headed for a massive deficit this year rather than the balanced books promised in the Conservatives’ spring budget.
Electricity set to soar if premier ends rate cap
Ontario Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty’s decision to hike electricity rates to tackle a $5.6-billion deficit will send a chill through homeowners, who could face monthly bills 15% higher than what they currently pay, industry watchers say.
Still, those experts, pundits and lobby groups say simply putting a higher cap on the cost of hydro will not address significant problems with Ontario’s electricity system.
Hydro headache
When Ontario‘s new Liberal government said it had decided to lift the cap on the price of electricity, it had accomplished the easy part of the task. The hard part is figuring out how to do it.
Update on the Blackout Report
Energy Probe‘s Tom Adams was interviewed extensively on Wednesday, November 19, following the release of the interim report "Causes of the August 14th Blackout in the United States and Canada," published by the US-Canada Power System Outage Task Force.
Outage left officials in dark
Canada’s nuclear regulator was left in the dark along with Ontario and the northeastern United States when the Aug. 14 blackout struck, according to a detailed report on the power failure.
A joint U.S.-Canadian task force headed by Canada’s natural resources minister Herb Dhaliwal and U.S. energy secretary Spencer Abraham found the lights went out on the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, though luckily no harm was done.
McGuinty's broken promise is tough love
As a colleague in the newsroom points out, the optics for Dalton McGuinty are not good.
During the election campaign, the Liberals promised to keep the price cap in place until 2006. The Liberal party had also voted in favour of the rate cap when it was introduced by the Eves government. Now, Ontario’s new Premier has approved a rate increase which will impose varying degrees of hardship on consumers, institutions, business and farmers.
Hydro bills jump by $5-$9
Most Ontario households will pay $5 to $9 a month more for their electricity starting in April under a new pricing system announced by the provincial Liberals.
Energy Minister Dwight Duncan yesterday abolished the cap of 4.3 cents a kilowatt hour that the previous Tory government imposed on the energy component of the electricity price.
Hydro stranded debt climbs to $20.2 billion
The unfunded debt left in the hands of taxpayers by the former Ontario Hydro has grown by almost $100 million over the past year, new financial statements show.
Despite the province’s stated intention of retiring the debt by 2012, taxpayers now owe $20.2 billion stemming from the province’s ownership of Ontario Hydro, up from $20.1 billion a year ago.
Utilities shake up telecom market 'they are a real spoiler'
Canada‘s telecommunications market is getting more competitive as electric utilities roll out plans to offer Internet service over electric lines and accessible through the socket in your wall.
Energy Probe 