By Don Butler

Electricity prices in Ontario are “going up like a rocket,” fuelled in part by the Ontario government’s Green Energy Act, says a longtime observer of the province’s energy scene.

“You are going to get screwed, and it’s going to be painful,” said Tom Adams, a Toronto-based consultant and a former executive director of Energy Probe.

“We’re talking about hundreds of dollars a year out of your pocketbook that didn’t need to happen. I’m livid about it. People should be outraged.”

Hydro Ottawa customers have already been hit with a double-digit increase this year, thanks to rate hikes approved May 1 by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) and the imposition of the harmonized sales tax July 1.

A typical consumer in Ottawa who uses 800 kilowatt hours of electricity now pays $116.82 a month, including tax, according to the OEB.

That’s 17.7 per cent more than the $99.35 a month the same residential customer was paying in April. Half the increase is due to higher rates and half because of the HST.

Adams warned that Ontarians should expect to pay at least $110 more a year by the end of 2011 for electricity. That translates into an additional nine-per-cent increase.

After that, rates will move steadily up for four or five years, he predicted.

The OEB has already received several applications for more hefty rate increases.

Hydro One, which operates most of the province’s long-distance transmission lines, has asked for a hike of 15.7 per cent in 2011 and 9.8 per cent in 2012. If approved, the increases would apply to the transmission portion of electricity bills.

Ontario Power Generation, which produces about 70 per cent of Ontario’s power, has asked for a 6.2-per-cent price increase effective next March. It scaled that back from 9.6 per cent after pressure from Energy Minister Brad Duguid.

Traditionally, Ontarians have paid less for power than Americans. But now, said Adams, “we are leaving them in our dust.”

He calculated that Ontario electricity rates passed the average U.S. price for the first time early this year, and are now nearly 15 per cent higher.

Adams assigned much of the blame for the rise in electricity rates to Ontario’s Green Energy Act, which promotes the use of solar, wind and other alternative power sources.

The Feed-in Tariff (FIT) program, which locks in generous payments for 20 years for large green energy projects, is “just outrageous,” Adams said.

The program’s rates are far in excess of current electricity prices. The FIT program, for example, offers producers between 44.3 cents and 71.3 cents per kilowatt hour for solar power, and between 13.5 and 19 cents for wind power.

By contrast, the average weighted price for electricity so far this year is 4.02 cents per kilowatt hour.

Four FIT projects are already operating commercially, as are more than 700 small-scale projects under the companion microFIT program, which offers even richer incentives.

Adams said FIT projects will drive up electricity bills as they generate more and more of Ontario’s power.

Because 20-year contracts have already been offered for FIT projects totalling more than 2,600 megawatts of power, Adams said, “it’s now too late to avoid hundreds of dollars per year of increases.”

But Tom Carpenter, a research associate at Queen’s University’s Institute for Energy and the Environment, said claims that green energy will drive up the price of electricity are “simply false.”

Over the next two or three years, Carpenter said, the impact of FIT projects on electricity rates will be negligible, because the high-priced renewable energy will only represent a tiny fraction of the province’s generating capacity.

As the program expands, he said, economies of scale will kick in and prices will come down sharply.

Another impending shift that could raise costs for residential customers is the advent of time-of-use pricing.

Unless they’ve signed electricity contracts, Ottawa residents now pay the Ontario Energy Board’s regulated price for hydro. For the first 600 hours of consumption in summer – and the first 1,000 hours in winter – they pay 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour, and then 7.5 cents for each kilowatt hour beyond that.

But smart meters, now installed at virtually all Ottawa residences, make it possible to bill customers at three variable rates, depending on when they use electricity.

The current time-of-use rates are:

n 5.3 cents per kilowatt hour between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m.,

n 8 cents from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., and

n 9.9 cents from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Hydro Ottawa plans to shift 4,750 customers to time-of-use billing in November, a further 30,000 early next year and the balance by June 2011. Those who’ve signed contracts with electricity suppliers won’t be affected.

While time-of-use pricing should be cost-neutral overall, Adams said, some people will pay more and some will pay less, depending on their consumption patterns.

Pilot projects in Toronto found many small businesses saved money while residential customers, on average, paid about eight per cent more for their electricity.

Adams said “substantial increases” are also on the horizon for electrical transmission and distribution.

One driver is an OEB decision last December that allowed local utilities to increase their allowed rate of profit. The decision bumped Hydro Ottawa’s allowed return on equity to 9.85 per cent from 8.57 per cent.

There’s some public benefit to that because the City of Ottawa is Hydro Ottawa’s sole owner, but “that is going to drive the distribution and transmission components of the bill up by more than 10 per cent just in and of itself,” Adams said.

City council is demanding Horizon Wind Inc. add everything from soil and geological studies to specific descriptions of electrial connectivity and tourism impacts before it will consider approving the Toronto-based company’s application for an 18-turbine wind farm on the Nor’Wester Mountain Range.

Council’s request also includes an analysis of the viewshed, including both roads and turbines, and answers on the company’s repsonsibility to monitor turbine noise.

The demands, voted for Monday night, were in addition to seven recommendations already in place pertaining to Horizon’s renewable energy approval.

The additions were made after Toronto energy consultant Micheal McLeod, hired by the Nor’Wester Mountain Escarpment Protection Committee, addressed his concerns with Horizon’s draft report.

“When I look at that (Horizon’s REA) that raises flags for me all over the place,” said McLeod, who has a history of dealing with the provincial regulatory process.

But while some agreed to a point, other councillors said McLeod failed to address specific concerns during his depuation, which lasted more than 12 minutes.

Coun. Rebecca Johnson said McLeod only addressed concerns raised in countless deputations over the past several months.

“Can you tell me something new that we haven’t heard about?” asked Johnson.
When asked to offer his opinion on the city’s recommended comments for the draft approval, McLeod said he would be willing to sit down with city administration and offer his expertise but not on Monday night.

“I feel quite uncomfortable directly

By Jodi Lundmark, tbnewswatch.com

With Thunder Bay being a grain port, the local port authority is growing concerned with the fact that grain cargo is already down 20 per cent this season.

Despite coal jumping 40 per cent and potash up 60 per cent this year compared to 2009, on average 70 per cent of cargo arriving at the port is grain, said Thunder Bay Port Authority CEO Tim Heney, who added that the drop will affect grain elevator employees.

“Anytime you lose that much grain, you’re going to lose hours of labour,” Heney said, noting there’s a combination of factors resulting in the grain decrease.

“There’s been a really wet spring and summer in the prairies and that’s affected the planting,” he said. “We’re not looking for a really strong fall either.”

The Canadian Wheat Board extended their rail program to May this year and grain is also being shipped to Europe from the West Coast. Heney added that ships that once commonly visited Thunder Bay have since scrapped their lake fleet and the iron ore business has picked up on the other side of Lake Superior.

“A bunch of factors come together and it’s really lowered our tonnage this year on grain,” he said. “It’s not likely we’re going to make a lot of that tonnage back up.”

But it’s not all doom and gloom for the port this season. There have been more ocean ships on the Great Lakes this year, which happens when the steel industry rebounds.

And the port authority has been trying to diversify the cargo entering the city, which brings in more ships to carry grain out.

“This year we’ve already done one ship so far of wind turbines,” Heney said. “We have four more coming and there’s some other project cargo as well … we’re starting to see the oil sands come back a little bit. It will probably be next year before they start moving any cargo.”

“That’s been a bit of a bright light for us,” he added.

The port authority is optimistic about the season because of the project cargo coming through and an effort to market Thunder Bay in the west as well as the jump in coal.

The Thunder Bay Port Authority sees about 400 ships a year. They’re down 12 from this time last year but Heney said they should still see 400 by the season’s close.

Vic Toews

It’s absolutely critical that local MPs stick to their guns and vote to abolish the long-gun registry, the federal minister of public safety says.

Vic Toews, during a Friday visit to Thunder Bay, said the Conservatives have been fighting the long-gun registry for at least a decade, since his days with the now defunct Canadian Alliance party.

While the private member’s bill passed second reading with the help of 12 NDP MPs and eight Liberals, Toews said he’s concerned that the Conservatives won’t get that support again when the bill comes up for third reading in September.

Bill C-391 is a private member’s bill introduced by MP Candice Hoeppner (Con. Portage-Lisgar). If passed, the bill would amend the Criminal Code and Firearms Act to repeal the long-gun registry.

“In committee the Liberals stalled the bill and then essentially gutted the bill with the support of the New Democrats and the Bloc,” said Toews. “The main issue is the lack of commitment by MPs from other parties to the abolishment of the long-gun registry.”

With Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff poised to whip his party to vote against the bill, which would keep the controversial registry on the books, Toews said he thinks the NDP will allow some of its members to vote with the Conservatives to show that some of the party are against the registry, but not all 12. Toews is concerned that might mean forcing local MPs to change their minds.

MP Bruce Hyer (NDP Thunder Bay-Superior North) said he’s been consistent through three elections and six years and that he will vote to end the registry on Sept. 21. Fellow MP John Rafferty (NDP, Thunder Bay-Rainy River) has done the same. Hyer said there’s no reason to change his mind now.

“I plan to keep my word…and stand firm,” Hyer said. “I plan to vote to end the long-gun registry.”

Hyer said he’s disappointed that Toews would suggest otherwise.

Both Toews and Hyer say the registry is redundant and does nothing to prevent crime.

“It treats farmers and hunters and trappers like criminals. It wastes resources that could be spent on pensions or housing or healthcare or improve policing,” Hyer said.

It’s not money well spent, said Toews.

“We would rather focus our resources on actually helping frontline police officers and other crime initiatives,” Toews said.

Toews said while police associations have stated the registsry is an effective tool for policing, he’s convinced that the issue is actually deeply divisive within Canadian police forces.

“They’re putting forward a united face but I know in speaking to officers as recently as this week, high ranking police officers who do not support the long-gun registry,” he said. “They’re mainly doing it to preserve some sort of unity within the police force.”

If you want to summarize “Unlocking the Potential of the Best Small City in North America” as one issue then so be it.

Are you concerned about the levels of taxation and debt your obligated for? Do you even know what they are?

Are you aware the city has committed you as a tax payer to subsidizes a private energy company  to the tune of millions of dollars for a commodity that we already have a huge excess of?

Is job creation for young and old alike a concern? Why are we committed to selling Innova Industrial Park to a mall developer instead of filling it with high tech companies that have long term potential?

Is the environment a concern, learn the real truth about green energy.

Do you feel safe in your community. What can we do collectively to change that?

We call ourselves the “Forestry Capital of Canada” yet we have a massive deficit in our urban forest. Learn how citizens have taken it upon themselves to change that and how you can help change this.

Is there transparency at city hall?

Why do we need to hire consultants when we ignore our most valuable resources, the citizens that own this city through their taxes.

Are we open for development. Yes

Are we open for development at any cost. I have my viewpoints, care to share yours?

Why energy is one of the most fundamental components of modern society along with clean water and locally grown food. How we can avoid a catastrophe by using what we already have.

Do you feel we have adequate transportation, road, rail, air travel etc. How we can change that for the better.

What are some of the undiscovered treasures that we want to share with the rest of the world. How we can stand out from the crowd?

In the meantime, please enjoy your stay and sign up for the RSS feed for future updates.