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Getting Zapped: Ontario electricity prices increasing faster than anywhere else
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Category Archives: Reforming Ontario’s Electrical Generation Sector
Reflections on the day we came unplugged
Years after the 2003 blackout, most people still are clueless as to what sparked the chaos.
The prevailing myth is that our gluttonous demand for power fried the system. The paranoid say it was due to a terrorist/government (take your pick) conspiracy gone awry. In the movie Déjà Vu terrorism fighter Denzel Washington links it to a secret government time machine.
Power authority chief stirs conflict-of-interest fears
Critics of the Liberal government are screaming foul that John Beck, the top executive at construction giant Aecon Group, has been elected chair of the Ontario Power Authority as the province embarks on a $40 billion upgrade to the electricity system that includes new nuclear plants.
Aecon is the largest publicly traded construction and infrastructure company in Canada, and a major player in Ontario’s energy sector.
Ontario's power crunch: What's the answer?
Every flick of a switch sends electrical currents flying through Ontario’s 29,000 kilometres of transmission lines, powering millions of homes, offices, lights and computers. Many days it can also spark quite the political debate.
Utility wants electricity users to get smart
If you could save six cents by running your dishwasher after midnight, would you do it?
How about saving another 30 cents by setting your clothes dryer to hum while you sleep?
Horizon Utilities – the company supplying power to 232,000 customers in St. Catharines and Hamilton – hopes you will.
So does the government of Ontario.
Ontario leaders play loose with the real cost of juice
John Tory does not speak in sentences, even paragraphs. The man who wants to be Ontario’s next premier speaks in chapters. Ask him about health costs, and prepare for a dissertation on why emergency rooms are stuffed with people who shouldn’t be in them. Ask about his scheme to fund religious schools, and Mr. Tory will take you on a tour of history, back to 1867 and the Fathers of Confederation.
Ontario Votes 2007 – Energy, the Environment and the Election
Energy Probe‘s Norm Rubin made a strong appearance as a guest on this episode of TVO’s The Agenda, which aired on October 1, and can be viewed in full at: www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/theagenda/index.cfm?page_id=43.
The following points summarize Norm’s main arguments in regard to the energy policies of the various parties, in the lead-up to Ontario’s provincial elections (Norm appears a third of the way through the video):
Councillors cool to Smart Meters
Is it a money saver, environmental safeguard, or a profit generator?
One expert calls it a "wonderful" idea that may not pay off in the end.
Whatever the case, Orillia city councillors aren’t yet sold on the province’s plan to install 800,000 Smart Meters across Ontario by year end.
"I want to know that Ontario is getting the best bang for their buck," Coun. Michael Fogarty said after Monday’s council meeting.
Ontario's Energy Fix Moving But Govt.'s Financial Analysis
Ontario’s new energy legislation, now through second reading in the house, sets the stage for competition in electricity production and marketing, expansion of gas trading in Ontario, separation of competitive and monopoly activities, and strong public regulation of energy monopolies. While the legislative program is strong, the government’s financial analysis of Ontario Hydro’s liabilities and its plan for discharging those liabilities is weak.
There is much to praise in Ontario’s new energy legislation:
Notes for presentation to Ontario Standing Committee on Resources Development
Good afternoon. I am Tom Adams, Executive Director of Energy Probe. I am joined today by Mark Mattson, counsel to Energy Probe, and Norm Rubin, Energy Probe’s Director of Nuclear Research.
The theme of Energy Probe’s oral presentation to the committee today is this: On the one hand, there is no serious alternative to Bill 35 as it applies to electricity. On the other hand, changes are required to Bill 35, to ensure regulatory due process in gas and electricity.
Province's Power Exchange is key to restructuring
This letter by Thomas Adams was in response to an article "Province’s Power Exchange is a wolf in sheep’s clothing" by Robert Blohm.
Ontarians have a major advantage to draw on in the effort to restructure our debt-laden electricity system – many other jurisdictions have gone before. Key lessons from the international experience contradict the advice of your author Robert Blohm.
Energy Probe 