Ontario energy hogs will be targeted by new energy czar

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Ontario's first energy conservation czar says he wants to make cutting electricity use as automatic a reflex as tossing pop cans into the blue box.

Peter Love, a veteran energy consultant appointed recently by Energy Minister Dwight Duncan, will be paid $270,000 a year plus bonus of up to $40,000.

Love didn't unveil a grand strategy but said he's noticed that many people still engage in energy-hogging behaviour, such as running air conditioners full blast on smog-warning days — a mindset he hopes to change.

"Recycling has become second nature to us... That's what my objective will be, to make conservation as common to people as the blue box is," said Love, who as executive director of the Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance last year gave Ontario a grade of C for its record on energy conservation.

Duncan said that attitude helped Love get the job, which he begins May 16 after selling his stake in a consulting firm and resigning as director of the energy alliance.

"We brought on somebody who won't be afraid to tell the government what he thinks," said Duncan, who vows to phase out coal-fired power plants by 2007. The plants provide a quarter of Ontario's electricity.

Duncan has been working to bring on new electricity generating capacity to meet the squeeze caused by rising demand and unreliable nuclear plants, and has promised "smart meters" to help consumers use power at off-peak times when rates will be cheaper.

"Conservation is not the entire answer but it is the greenest, fastest and cheapest way, I believe, to respond to our future electricity requirements," Love said.

But critics brushed off Love's hiring as more bureaucracy.

The government now has no excuse for not meeting its goal of reducing peak electricity demand by 5 per cent by 2007, said Progressive Conservative energy critic John O'Toole (Durham).

"They've got all the high-priced help in the world," he said.

But asked if he can make sure the 2007 target is reached, Love replied: "I can't guarantee that."

Love will work for the Ontario Power Authority, created by the government earlier this year to ensure the province has a long-term supply of power.

The fledgling authority will have a budget of $15 million, but chief executive Jan Carr said it hasn't decided yet how much the budget will be set aside for the conservation office.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton also scoffed at Love's appointment.

"This is another incidence where the McGuinty government holds a press conference and introduces some more public relations spin ... We haven't seen a comprehensive conservation or energy efficiency plan from this government."

Until now, local hydro utilities have played the primary role in delivering conservation programs.