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Author Archives: energyprbe
Ontario keeping tight grip on OPG
The province wants Ontario Power Generation to operate as a commercial enterprise, but a new agreement reveals that the electricity utility is on a short leash, requiring it to shape strategic decisions according to government policy.
Everything from the prices the government-owned utility charges for electricity to its expansion plans is already controlled by Queen’s Park rather than OPG’s board of directors.
A shock to the wallet
It’s always galling when a government-owned monopoly announces fat profits, particularly when we have all had to share the financial pain to get it to that stage.
But there was Ontario Power Generation Inc. as last week ended ─ the company that supplies about 85% of all electricity consumed in Ontario ─ boasting that it had posted a whopping third-quarter profit of $181 million. That was a marked turnaround from last year when the provincially-owned power generator reported a loss of $15 million in the same June-September period.
Hydro users demand refund
Some of Ontario’s biggest power users say the provincial electricity utility should give back the $181 million in profit it made over the summer at their expense.
Roughly half the refund – about $90 million – would go to residential consumers, the Association of Major Power Consumers of Ontario said yesterday.
The corporate power users say soaring electricity rates are contributing to job losses and plant closings, particularly in the chemical and forestry sectors.
Growing Hydro debt a shocker
Toronto: Ontario’s electricity ratepayers have shelled out more than $5 billion to pay down the industry’s stranded debt, only to see it go up.
According to figures from a provincial agency’s annual reports, the Ontario Electricity Financial Corporation has collected $2.9 billion from the debt retirement charge added to bills since 2002 and another $2.2 billion from a preceding customer-funded "revenue pool residual" dating back to 1999 – a total of $5.1 billion.
Energy rebates withheld
Ontario’s energy regulator is sitting on $570-million in rebates it owes to electricity customers as of the end of October.
While not one cent of that money will end up in the coffers of households across the province, it will help to cushion the blow of higher rates next year.
The surplus arose because Ontario Power Generation, the province’s electricity utility, has collected revenue this year that exceeds the cap imposed by the government.
Ontario, Manitoba may revisit power project
Provinces take first step to send electricity east
A $500-million energy agreement between Manitoba and Ontario could be the first step in reviving a long-shelved $10-billion generation project that would send Manitoba electricity to power-starved Ontario.
Gassing up
| A four-letter word that riles environmentalists, but is all the buzz around power company boardrooms these days, as the cost of cleaner-burning natural gas soars and utilities look to build new power plants to meet customer demand. |
Ontario, Ottawa in Candu finance dispute
The Ontario government’s suggestion that it will consider foreign nuclear companies for the construction of new power plants is a bargaining tactic aimed at getting Ottawa to cover any financial risks of sticking with Candu technology, sources say. Government officials began hinting in the summer that choosing Candu technology from Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., a federal Crown corporation, is not a certainty and that reactor designs from countries such as France and the United States will also be explored.
Market shift could help Churchill: Energy Probe
A Toronto-based environmental organization says Ontario’s new-found interest in long-term power contracts could make the development of the lower Churchill River more feasible.
The Energy Probe Research Foundation believes a recent policy shift in Ontario may change the economics of the long-awaited hydro project.
Tom Adams, the executive director of Energy Probe, said the government of Ontario is ready to buy as much power as it can, for as long as it can.
Ontarians told to save energy or face blackouts
The Ontario government is warning people to start conserving energy now or face the possibility of another blackout.
"All we’re asking is conserve like hell," former Toronto mayor Mel Lastman said on Tuesday.
Ontarians are being reminded of the blackout in the summer of 2003. People were told to conserve energy then, but the message may not be sticking.
"I think we did for a while and I think people actually changed their thinking," Ontario Energy Minister Donna Cansfield said.
Energy Probe 