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Author Archives: energyprbe
Thumbs down for gas, power conservation plan
Energy board calls for central agency
Clean Air Alliance says idea would fail
Ontario should set up a central agency to design programs to reduce demand for electricity and natural gas in the province, says a staff report to the Ontario Energy Board.
But an environmental group says that approach is doomed to fail because the utilities that are supposed to help deliver conservation programs would be punished for success, as their sales and profits would decline.
From a position of power
Negotiating from a weak position is a bad idea, especially if you don’t have to. And yet, our provincial energy minister has announced this is exactly what he intends to do.
Although the freeze on electricity rates doesn’t show it on our bills, prices in Ontario’s unregulated electricity market are high.
Bruce Power mulls building 2 reactors
Bruce Power is considering a plan to boost Ontario’s electricity supply by building two new reactors at its nuclear power complex on the shore of Lake Huron near Kincardine. The two, new-generation Candu reactors being considered by the Bruce partnership carry an estimated price tag of $2.7 billion and would produce 1,400 megawatts of power, enough for more than 460,000 homes.
Building and operating two such reactors would create hundreds of new jobs in the Kincardine area.
Energy Probe's testimony before the Ontario Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs
The Chair: I call forward Energy Probe Research Foundation. You have 20 minutes for your presentation. You may choose to leave time within that 20 minutes for questions if you so desire. Please state your names for the purposes of our recording Hansard.
Mr. Thomas Adams: My name is Tom Adams. I’m representing the Energy Probe Research Foundation. With me today is Kal Vepuri, a research associate and visiting scholar.
Ontario set to change power sector, critics wary
Ontario’s new energy minister Dwight Duncan, about five months on the job, is a man on a mission to mend the province’s power-strapped electricity sector even though experts warn that there is no quick fix.
Duncan, a key member of Ontario’s new Liberal government, says he has had about 150 meetings since November with investors who may be interested in generating electricity in Ontario. Ontario power supply cannot meet demand during peak months, forcing the province to rely on expensive imports.
Minister 'sickened' rich contracts went to Tories
Revelations about rich Hydro One contracts going to friends of Ontario’s former Conservative government prompted cries of cronyism today and a fresh pledge from the province’s energy minister that corruption at the public utility will be rooted out. Dwight Duncan called it "sickening" that prominent Tory advisers close to former premiers Mike Harris and Ernie Eves won untendered contracts worth $5.6 million while the Conservatives were still in power in 1999.
Ontario won't guarantee power contracts, energy minister says
Ontario won’t guarantee long-term contracts for builders of new electricity plants because taxpayers shouldn’t assume risks for power producers, Energy Minister Dwight Duncan said.
"You can’t come in here and argue you’re a capitalist and then look for a risk-free option," Duncan said in an interview. "If you haven’t got the stomach to take a little bit of risk, you’re not going to make it here. So don’t waste my time and don’t waste your time."
Adams: ratepayers on hook
NB Power executives and the Conservative cabinet should accept responsibility for a bungled Orimulsion deal that could cost taxpayers $2 billion over the next 20 years, says the executive director of a consumer advocacy group.
Tom Adams, of the Toronto-based Energy Probe, said Government ministers responsible for overseeing utility executives’ owe taxpayers an explanation.
The case should also spark a review of the job performance of both current and former executives at the utility, Adams said.
OPG's viability is at risk: review
It took the board of Ontario Hydro a single afternoon in the summer of 1997 to consider and approve a $1.6 billion plan to launch 66 projects that would supposedly fix Ontario’s sputtering nuclear plants.
That plan, launched by then-newly hired executive vice-president Carl Andognini, continues to weigh down the financial performance of Ontario Hydro’s successor, Ontario Power Generation.
Private sector eyes Ontario's nuclear sector
But companies seek political consistency, clear policies
TORONTO – A potential nuclear surge in Ontario’s electricity market is attracting interest from companies that deal in the controversial power source — as long as regulatory policies are clear and consistent.
Their interest was heightened by a report last week from a panel led by former deputy prime minister John Manley recommending Ontario look to nuclear power to cope with a power shortage that looms as early as 2007.
Energy Probe 