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Getting Zapped: Ontario electricity prices increasing faster than anywhere else
Read Our Report On Wind Subsidies in Ontario
Category Archives: Reforming Ontario’s Electrical Generation Sector
No incentive to conserve energy
There is a major flaw in Ontario’s new competitive electricity system.
The market offers consumers almost no incentive to heed the price signals it sends out when supply has trouble keeping up with demand.
With electricity use at record levels amidst this week’s blazing heat, soaring prices should convince consumers to cut back.
But without state-of-the-art electricity meters, they won’t save a cent by conserving energy.
Fixed-price power contracts aren't
More than a million people who have signed contracts to buy electricity at a fixed price may actually have to pay more than they bargained for due to a quirk of Ontario’s deregulated power market.
That’s because the cost for often exorbitantly priced imported power the province needs in times of high demand is a floating rate charged separately from domestically produced power.
New Hydro bills missing critical information
While you’re at it, grab a calculator, a pencil and paper and perhaps a mug of coffee, because it may take you a while to figure out whether you’re paying what you’re supposed to.
That’s because the new bills don’t tell you the rate you’re being charged for energy.
And for 50,000 households in Toronto that formerly had flat rate water heaters, the bills are doubly complex. That’s because they list the number of kilowatt hours used in two different places on the bill, without adding them into a total.
Hydro contract savings won't last
Customers who signed fixed-price electricity contracts will pay less for power they used this summer than those who stuck with their local hydro utility.
But the savings for July will amount to no more than about $8 on an average Hamilton bill.
And an expert in Ontario’s new electricity market says in the longer term, those who stayed with utilities such as Hamilton Hydro will be the real winners.
Confusion surrounds Hydro rebate
Don’t spend your hydro rebate cheque before you receive it.
Based on calls to some hydro utilities, there’s a lot of consumer confusion about who’s getting a $75 rebate cheque and who’s not as a result of Ontario government legislation that also froze hydro prices.
In fact, Toronto Hydro, which supplies about one-quarter of the province’s electricity to businesses and residents, took out ads this week to clarify who can expect rebates and why.
Energy panel tells Enbridge brass to attend hearings
The Ontario Energy Board is using a heavy hand in an ongoing tussle with Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc. over the utility’s extensive practice of outsourcing services.
The board has issued formal notices ordering two senior executives to appear at hearings next week with an array of documents concerning Enbridge’s outsourcing practices.
At the bottom, in large type, the summons says: "IF YOU FAIL TO ATTEND . . . THE ONTARIO COURT (GENERAL DIVISION) MAY ORDER THAT A WARRANT FOR YOUR ARREST BE ISSUED . . ."
No more blackouts!
Dear Friend:
The Great Blackout of 2003 is the latest of the great blackouts that we’ve suffered, and it affected the most people – 50 million people in Canada and the U.S.. But this recent blackout is hardly the worst – the great blackout in the 1998 Ice Storm in Quebec, Ontario and the U.S. northeast, led to the loss of power for 34 days and caused far more hardship and disruption. Quebec alone suffered 30 deaths; 450 shelters needed to be established and 17,800 people were forced from their homes.
Smart meters: an electrifying idea
Ontario Energy Minister Dwight Duncan recently spelled out the elements of a new energy policy that he said would put the province "back on solid footing by taking a balanced approach." Included among his proposals was establishing a pricing plan for small consumers that would ensure they "can take advantage of time-of-use rates so that they would have the opportunity and incentive to shift consumption from periods of high demand and prices to periods of lower demand and prices."
Ontario electricity costs rising Friday
Toronto: Flicking on the light switch in Ontario is going to cost more starting Friday, when electricity rates for residential consumers rise by as much as 10 per cent.
Ottawa-area solar farm gets thumbs up from residents
(July 12, 2009) As controversies over green-power projects erupt across Ontario, Ottawa is quietly leading a revolution in solar farming that will soon make the nation’s capital home to one of the largest solar-energy plants of its kind in North America. Continue reading
Energy Probe 