Ontario Electricity System Operational Update #7: Green Energy, Cold Feet

This column, presenting new data showing the Ontario Liberals losing faith in their own green energy revolution, appeared in the National Post March 13. It is a testament to the opacity of the Ontario power system that this $11 billion cost reduction for consumers was only revealed in response to a Freedom of Information request. Here …

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Guest Commentary: Counting the Costs of the Oakville Gas Plant Relocation (Updated)

I previously posted an analysis authored by electricity and gas consultant Bruce Sharp addressing the costs to consumers of relocating the Oakville gas-fired power system. What follows is an updated version of that analysis. As previously, this analysis considers the costs specific to the power plant only and does not address other impacts. One example …

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Ontario Power Rates Headed for #1 by 2013

The Ontario Government’s Long Term Energy Plan (LTEP) issued in the Fall of 2010 forecast that monthly residential costs would rise from $114/800kWh in 2010 to $167/800kWh in 2015 — a 46% nominal increase or a 33% inflation-adjusted increase.Here are examples of new cost pressures driving up rates that have developed since the LTEP was …

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Ontario’s Auditor General Snowed Again

In the year 2000, then provincial Auditor General Erik Peters issued his first report on matters related to Ontario’s power system. The former Ontario Hydro had always been exempt from the AG’s oversight. The vast complexity of the financial processes underpinning the power system proved too much for the newly electrified Peters. In a column …

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