Will the Ontario Budget help hydro customers?

[capricorn]

IS that what is driving the costs ? I believe you may be right, but let's have a link...

This is another economic area where Ontarians act like sheepish sheep.

It appears the rising cost of electricity may be due in part as a result of increased conservation by hydro consumers.

Initially, the demand reduction scheme brought a heavy-duty marketing campaign. David Suzuki began appearing in OPA ads urging people to get rid of their beer fridges, take power pledges to reduce consumption, throw out old air conditioners, undergo home audits. Do all this, said the ads, and consumers would save money.

But it turns out that saving money via demand reduction apparently costs a lot of money. Each corporation in the Ontario electricity chain incurred costs setting up the program. Toronto Hydro spent $60-million from 2007 to 2010. To get that money back, it sent a bill to the Ontario Power Authority. In all, across the province, the bills mounted as the promotion campaign and other costs mounted. For 2010, the OPA budgeted $286.6-million for CDM -- although the OPA's recently filed 2011 budget now estimate that they will spend $361.1-million for 2010.

But costs for promotion are only part of the cost. Toronto Hydro, Hydro 0ne and all the other electricity distributors in the Ontario system claim to have lost revenue as a result of these programs. These "deteriorated revenues," apparently the result of conservation, are losses they are now seeking to replace via rate increases.

Toronto Hydro has applied for an 18.2% increase for 2011, or $448-million, based on 2009 revenue. Hydro One, the province-wide transmission company, has applied for a 15.7% increase, or $555-million, based on their 2009 distribution revenues.

But there's more to come. The current Energy Minister, Brad Duguid, issued a fresh directive last March setting out the new short-term targets. Officially called "2011-2014 Net Annual Peak Demand Savings Target," it effectively orders Ontario's 80 local distribution companies to achieve "Peak Demand Savings" of 1,330 megawatts (MW) by 2014.

http://www.nationalpost.com/todays-paper/high+cost+conservation/3846460/story.html

Interesting. Ontario is producing much more electricity than what is being currently utilized within the province. What if...what if the McGuinty/hydro companies conservation tactics lead to hydro being sold out of province? You know, I think those money grubbers would do just that. We're been shafted and there's more of the same coming.

[gutb]

Ontario politicians understand economics very well, which is why they launched the green energy spending program. The problem is that "green energy" has nothing to do with the public's best interests, but rather their own interests. "Green energy", as known in Ontario, is essentially a tax fund for elite-connected contractors, developers and investors. Calling it "green" or "renewable" is just marketing to taxpayers -- nuclear power is green and renewable, but that's no good; the point isn't to deliver inexpensive power infrastructure, it's to make sure a gigantic political empire criss-crossed with contractors and policy elite stakeholders gets a piece of the trough.

Well, guess what, the era of invented wealth is coming to an end and soon the Canadian economy will be so marginal that it will no longer be able to support these political employment and contractor empires.

[capricorn]

The problem is that "green energy" has nothing to do with the public's best interests, but rather their own interests.

Duguid said “Our energy plan Building Our Clean Energy Future is creating jobs and turning Ontario into a global clean energy powerhouse."

http://www.570news.com/news/local/article/148610--new-green-jobs

Ontario's clean energy plan is getting Ontario off dirty, smog-producing coal and on to cleaner energy sources like wind, solar and bio-energy. The plan is making Ontario a global clean energy leader, sparking a new industry and thousands of new, good jobs in Ontario as businesses set up to manufacture parts and equipment for wind turbines and solar panels. Those businesses, like ATS, will not only be supplying Ontario projects, but selling their high-quality products to the world.

http://www.news.ontario.ca/mei/en/2010/11/more-clean-energy-jobs-at-cambridge-solar-manufacturer.html

Heed the Liberal message. "If you build it, they will come"...maybe.

The McGuinty energy plan sounds like he's chasing a legacy than solving current energy problems. Honestly, how many Ontarians are presently hyped up about taxpayers funding the creation of an energy market for products to be sold abroad. Could these Liberals be more out of touch with the common person?