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Ontarians paid $37-billion above market price for electricity over eight years

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GAP

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Ontarians paid $37-billion above market price for electricity over eight years: AG
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontarians-paid-37-billion-above-market-price-for-electricity-over-eight-years-ag/article27560753/

Ontarians have paid $37-billion more than market price for electricity over eight years and will pay another $133-billion by 2032, after the provincial government’s process for planning the system “broke down.” Electricity prices have ballooned by 70 per cent.

What’s more, Hydro One is in rough shape, with ever-increasing power outages and aging equipment “at very high risk of failing” that needs $4.472-billion worth of repairs – even as the province is in the process of selling 60 per cent of the company to the private sector.

Auditor-General Bonnie Lysyk made these blockbuster revelations about Ontario’s expensive and aging electricity system in her annual report Wednesday, which also put several other provincial policies under the microscrope.

Ms. Lysyk’s audit of the province’s electricity system found that the Ontario Power Authority, which has now merged into the Independent Electricity System Operator, was supposed to provide a long-term plan for the province’s electricity system to independent regulators. But the OPA never provided such a plan.

Instead, the government has made ad-hoc decisions on the electricity system by fiat, which have resulted in higher electricity prices for consumers.

“We found that the planning process had essentially broken down over the past decade,” Ms. Lysyk wrote in her report. “In the absence of a technical plan, the Ministry has made a number of decisions about power generation that went against the OPA’s technical advice and did not fully consider the state of the electricity market or the long-term effects.”

“Ontario electricity ratepayers have had to pay billions for these decisions,” Ms. Lysyk added.

Specifically, electricity prices for residential consumers and small businesses jumped 70 per cent – from 5.32 cents per kilowatt hour to 9.06 cents – between 2006 and 2014, she found. The largest part of that is an increase to Global Adjustment Fees, which pay power generating companies more than market price for their power. Those fees amounted to $37-billion between 2006 and 2014, and are projected to cost $133-billion from 2015 to 2032.

The report detailed several examples of costly projects that have jacked up hydro bills.

For instance, Ontarians are paying double for wind power and more than triple for solar power what U.S. consumers pay. The problem, Ms. Lysyk found, was that the 2010 Green Energy Act failed to take advantage of low electricity prices and instead mandated higher prices for wind and solar power companies than they had received previously. This all added up to $9.2-billion more in renewables costs under the current system than the previous one.

In another case in 2013, the government decided to convert a coal-fired plant in Thunder Bay to biomass in order to keep the plant going after the province stopped burning coal for electricity. Energy experts at the OPA told the government the conversion was not cost-effective, but the government told them to do it anyway. As a result, power from the plant costs $1,600/megawatts per hour, which is 25 times more than the cost at other Ontario biomass plants, Ms. Lysyk found. What’s more, some of the biomass burned at the plant is actually imported, which undercuts part of the rationale to keep the plant going to help Ontario’s forestry industry.

In a third situation, in January 2010, the OPA warned the province that the Lower Mattagami hydroelectric project was $1-billion over budget, but the government decided to proceed. As a result, power from that plant costs $135/megawatts per hour, compared to an average cost of $46/megawatts per hour for two other recent hydro projects, Ms. Lysyk found.

The province also produces enough extra electricity to power the entire province of Manitoba, an excess that costs consumers, Ms. Lysyk found.

For instance, the province paid $3.1-billion to power generators between 2009 and 2014 to produce excess power that was not needed, plus another $339-million to not produce power. The province also paid $32.6-million to exporters to take the province’s excess power of its hands and distribute it to other jurisdictions.
End

Among Ms. Lysyk’s other findings:

    The Liberal government has doled out $2.36-billion in corporate welfare to big businesses over the last 10 years, but has no idea whether those payments are actually helping the economy or creating long-term jobs. The province spent 80 per cent of that money with no public application process or criteria, but instead picked the companies that would receive the payouts behind closed doors.

    The troubled Social Assistance Management System (SAMS), a computer program that manages welfare and disability payments, was launched prematurely and miscalculated $140-million worth of benefit payments. The cost of launching and fixing the system has gone $90-million over budget and there are still 771 glitches in the system that have not been fixed.

    The quality of home care varies widely across the province and the government is not doing enough to make sure that contracted care companies are taking care of patients properly.

    Even as the province prepares a massive plan to build new infrastructure, nearly $500-billion worth of current infrastructure needs to be fixed.

    The province’s Childrens’ Aid Societies sometimes fail to meet the province’s protection standards and close cases too quickly, but the government does not have enough information on the Societies to monitor them effectively.
 
And now that Alberta has tossed the "Alberta Advantage" out the door, where will Ontario get equalization payments to cover this mess?
 
from the middle and lower class by increasing the amount and number of access fees to everything. I pay about 150 dollars a month to just have power and gas hooked up, before I use a watt of power, or btu of gas.

that's excessive and it's this crap that's killing the middle class and keeping the lower class down.
 
A Torontonian goes into a bar in Louisiana where there is a robot bartender.  The robot says, “What will you have?
The guy replies, “Whiskey.”
The robot brings back his drink and asks, “What’s your IQ?”
The guy say, “168.”
The robot continues to talk about physics, space exploration, and medical technology.
After the guy leaves and the more he thinks about it, the more curious he gets, so he decides to go back.
The robot asks, “What’s your drink?”
The guy answers, “Whiskey.”
The robot returns with his drink and asks, “What’s your IQ?”
The man replies, “100.”
The robot talks about Nascar, Budweiser, and the Maple Leafs.
The man finishes his drink, leaves, but is so interested in his “experiment” that he decides to try again.
He enters the bar and, as usual, the robot asks him what he want to drink.
The man replies, “Whiskey.”
The robot brings the drink and asks, “What’s your IQ?”
The man answers, “50.”
The robot leans in real close and asks,
“So . . . . . . . . .are . . . . . . . . .you people . . . . . . . . .still happy . . . . . . . . . . .with Kathleen Wynne?”
 
Rifleman62 said:
A Torontonian goes into a bar in Louisiana where there is a robot bartender.  The robot says, “What will you have?
The guy replies, “Whiskey.”
The robot brings back his drink and asks, “What’s your IQ?”
The guy say, “168.”
The robot continues to talk about physics, space exploration, and medical technology.
After the guy leaves and the more he thinks about it, the more curious he gets, so he decides to go back.
The robot asks, “What’s your drink?”
The guy answers, “Whiskey.”
The robot returns with his drink and asks, “What’s your IQ?”
The man replies, “100.”
The robot talks about Nascar, Budweiser, and the Maple Leafs.
The man finishes his drink, leaves, but is so interested in his “experiment” that he decides to try again.
He enters the bar and, as usual, the robot asks him what he want to drink.
The man replies, “Whiskey.”
The robot brings the drink and asks, “What’s your IQ?”
The man answers, “50.”
The robot leans in real close and asks,
“So . . . . . . . . .are . . . . . . . . .you people . . . . . . . . .still happy . . . . . . . . . . .with Kathleen Wynne?”

AH YUP!

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/12/20/ontarians-urged-to-help-province-pay-off-its-debt.html
 
Yup and just got my Hydro One bill today and a big increase come Jan 1st. Although I knew it was coming. Close to a 12% increase.
 
Teager said:
Yup and just got my Hydro One bill today and a big increase come Jan 1st. Although I knew it was coming. Close to a 12% increase.

Plus the "clean energy benefit" is going away, so your increase is actually 22%.

There's no way to get rid of these criminals for another few years, as well. Thanks GTA, you've screwed us again.
 
Now with the Provincial Liberals wanting to create an Ontario version of the CPP and the Federal Liberals wanting to increase employee and employers' contributions to CPP, most economists are predicting the loss of over 100K jobs and closure of many small businesses.  My retirement will really suck in the very near future.
 
I expect no less with the Lieberals running the monkey show and snouts firmly embedded in the pocket books of the citizens.
 
George Wallace said:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/12/20/ontarians-urged-to-help-province-pay-off-its-debt.html

I choked on my coffee when I saw this. If I am understanding their thought process correctly, they have financially mismanaged the province for a while now, along with corruption scandal after corruption scandal, and they want everyone to volunteer to pay for it. The best part is that deficit will only increase as they haven't even balanced the budget let alone created a surplus to help cut the debt.

Just doing some simple math Ontario owes roughly 300 billion dollars, which works out to roughly 22,000$ a person in debt (if you go by 13.6 million pop for Ontario).
 
PuckChaser said:
Plus the "clean energy benefit" is going away, so your increase is actually 22%.

There's no way to get rid of these criminals for another few years, as well. Thanks GTA, you've screwed us again.

I included the 10% increase. They had some other smaller increases and one decrease of 3.4% for the debt retirement fee.
 
I had a hard time with that as well.  What is that old army saying: "Lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine"?

Just proves that most Ontarioians are living in a fantasy world with no clues, electing even more clueless people to represent them than they are.  I think this province is lowering my IQ.

Perhaps someone ought to take the Liberal Party of Ontario to Court and have them empty their coffers to pay down the Debt.
 
The big problem is, there's no recall law in Canadian politics. After the criminal actions of the Ontario Liberals, a petition with 15% of a riding's voting members should be enough to hold a recall vote, which would vacate the seat and cause a byelection in 60 days. It would also have to have a clear reason for recall, and be subject to an Ontario Superior Court Justice signing off so there are no frivolous reasons without a shred of proof (see all the accusations of the Harper days).
 
As the Federal Liberal are following in the footsteps of the Ontario Liberals, Australia and New Zealand are looking more attractive.  Looks like the Liberal promises for bringing in 50K or more Syrians will not be enough to cover the mass exodus of Canadians to other countries in their attempts to escape having to donate to keep our Provincial and Federal Governments solvent.  A bar is open somewhere....... :subbies:  :duel: :panic: :cheers: :subbies:  It is the crazy season after all.
 
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