The Pembina Institute recognizes the need for major change in the structure of Ontario’s electricity system. The experiments with competition have lead to unstable and unpredictable energy prices for consumers, while the planned phase-out of the province’s coal-fired generating facilities, and expectation that the province’s nuclear generating facilities will reach the end of their normal lives by 2018, highlight the need for long- term planning in Ontario’s electricity system.
The Institute also welcomes the government’s focus on practical and feasible solutions, rather than the ideological approaches to market and system design that have been seen over the past few years.
Finally, the Institute welcomes the government’s decision to take the unusual step of asking the Standing Committee to consider the bill before second reading. This approach allows for a broader discussion of the bill’s conceptual approach, before the bill’s overall direction is accepted by the Legislature.
However, the Institute has a number of serious concerns with the bill as it is currently structured. Bill 100, as presented, would establish an Ontario Power Authority (OPA) to forecast Ontario’s future electricity needs, develop an integrated power system plan, and enter into contracts for electricity supply or the delivery of energy demand management programs as needed. A Conservation Bureau would be created within the OPA to promote demand management. The bill would also rename the Independent Market Operator (IMO) the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) and narrow the mandate of the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) significantly with respect to the electricity sector.
The Institute’s concerns are focused in two areas:
- How the bill defines the goals of Ontario’s electricity system; and
- The level and nature of the policy direction given to the key institutional actors in Ontario’s electricity system, particularly the proposed OPA, the IESO and the OEB.
The Institute has taken a strong interest in issues related the sustainability of Ontario’s electricity system. In May 2004, the Institute published, in partnership with the Canadian Environmental Law Association, Power for the Future: Towards a Sustainable Electricity System for Ontario. This report explored the possible contributions of energy efficiency measures and low-impact renewable electricity sources to meeting Ontario’s electricity needs over the next fifteen years. The study concluded that it would be possible to meet the province’s future electricity needs while phasing out both coal-fired and nuclear power.
