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Getting Zapped: Ontario electricity prices increasing faster than anywhere else
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Author Archives: energyprbe
Ontario keeps cap on industrial power costs
TORONTO (Reuters): Ontario said on Thursday it will shave a tenth of a cent off prices for bulk users of electricity this year, offering relief to a sector hammered by high energy costs and the strong Canadian currency.
Energy Minister Donna Cansfield told a news conference that the province had decided to prolong a cap on energy prices for large industry, and lower the price to 4.6 Canadian cents per kilowatt, from 4.7 cents.
Coal may be in vogue again
Alberta’s Energy Minister Greg Melchin believes coal, whether we like it or not, is poised to become the most important fuel in Canada’s future.
And he’s not reluctant to say that in Ontario, where the government has vowed to shut all coal-fired plants by 2009. And where the Ministry of Energy estimates nearly 700 people a year die from pollution caused by coal plants, and where more than 300,000 suffer illnesses.
Ontario cannot afford to give up coal
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty long ago admitted his promise to shut down all of Ontario’s smog-producing coal-generated electricity by 2007 was impossible.
Ontario was already staring at a future supply shortage when he became premier and prices for that tenuous supply continue to be artificially suppressed by provincial subsidies. Where on earth would McGuinty find a new energy supply cheaply and quickly?
Energy policy in Ontario
Ontario Energy Association
Breakfast Series"Energy Policy in Ontario:
Some Perspectives on the Road Ahead"
Debate between:
Jack Gibbons, Ontario Clean Air Alliance
And
Tom Adams, Energy Probe
(Opening statement presentation notes)
Tom Adams, Energy Probe
March 8, 2006
Tom Adams, Energy Probe
The presentation given by Tom Adams to the Ontario Energy Association Breakfast Series follows below:
Could city council afford privatization?
The citizens of Toronto are owners of the biggest electricity distribution utility in Ontario.
They’ve embarked on a so-called WiFi venture to turn the city’s downtown into a giant wireless hot spot.
They’re major shareholders in a company that heats and cools millions of square feet of office space in downtown Toronto.
They own the city’s biggest parking company.
Ontario's renewable energy program needs competition
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty’s program to buy electricity from small renewable generators, which was announced March 21 in Cambridge, will sock Ontario consumers with such excessive costs it will make even nuclear power appear cost-effective.
Consumers will be forced to pay 11 cents per kilowatt hour for renewable power that’s identical to the renewable power bought by the government last fall for 8.6 cents – a 28-per-cent premium.
Hydro jolt coming
There could be shock waves around Ontario when higher hydro rates hit electricity bills after next month.
But homeowners shouldn’t expect any new government subsidies to curb costs, Premier Dalton McGuinty said yesterday.
The Ontario Energy Board is expected to announce as early as next week what rates most of the province’s four million homeowners will pay for electricity after May 1.
Get used to hydro hikes, watchdog warns
Toronto: Residential electricity charges in Ontario will jump by an average of 16 per cent next month, and industry observers warn that consumers should brace for regular increases in the future.
Typical consumers who use 1,000 kilowatts of power a month will see their monthly hydro rates climb to $61.60 from $52 under rate changes announced yesterday by Ontario’s energy regulator. The new rates of 5.8 cents a kilowatt hour and 6.7 cents, depending on consumption, come into effect May 1. The current rates are five cents and 5.8 cents.
12.9% more to turn on the lights
Londoners will pay more to turn on their air conditioners this summer.
Rate changes announced yesterday by the Ontario Energy Board will increase electricity bills for the average London Hydro customer by 12.9 per cent.
A family of four using 1,000 kilowatt hours a month will pay $120.78 starting May 1, up from the current $106.98, London Hydro spokesperson Nancy Hutton said.
Town hydro hike highest in province: CP Hike won't be the last: expert
Residential electricity charges in Ontario will be going up an average of 16 per cent next month and, according to published reports, that won’t be the end of it.
The average consumer using 1,000 kilowatts of power a month will see their rate increase by almost $10 to $62.
The new rates will increase the cost of hydro to 5.8 cents for the first 600 kilowatts and 6.8 cents for additional usage. Right now, rates are five cents and 5.8 cents respectively.
Energy Probe 