Eves scolds OPG bosses on power plants

- Premier Ernie Eves has scolded officials at Ontario Power Generation for not giving him the correct information about the province's power capacity in the wake of the blackout.

Eves told reporters yesterday he asked OPG chair Bill Farlinger and the provincially owned generator's president Ron Osborne "in for a chat" after being fed erroneous information about power plants coming on line.

"Look, I'm as frustrated from day to day as the public is on some of these issues.

"I just want reliable information when I come up here to inform you people and, more importantly, the public," the Premier said.

"I had those two gentlemen (Farlinger and Osborne) as well their chief operations officer and their chief nuclear person in for a little chat (on Tuesday) at about 4:30 p.m. or 5 p.m. We wanted an explanation."

Eves said he was unhappy that he had been given inaccurate updates on the status of the plants.

"The people have the right to know what the most up-to-date information is and I've been trying my hardest to do that every day," the Premier said.

"As you recall, I was here saying that we expected a unit at Nanticoke, one at Lakeview and one at Pickering to be fired up late (yesterday) and then we were advised very late (August 14) that unfortunately that would not be possible for a variety of reasons," he said.

"So I had them in to discuss those reasons and exactly why the information that was provided (August 14) morning didn't appear to be accurate at about 5 p.m. (August 14).

"The response is that they have managed to get another Nanticoke unit up earlier than they had planned.

"We are still waiting to hear back from them with respect to the others."

The Premier warned OPG could face an in-depth probe in the aftermath of the energy crisis.

"As you know, we do have a review of OPG going on and ... when this all is said and done, I think it might be interesting to do a comparison between different nuclear stations — being Darlington, Bruce and Pickering — and why some were able to operate more efficiently than others," he said.

"This is far from an exact science (but) my primary concern is to get these up and running as quickly as they can."

Eves said he could not explain why OPG officials have refused all media interviews and have kept a low profile since the August 14th blackout.

"I'm not here to defend OPG."

Bruce Campbell, vice-president of the Independent Electricity Market Operator, to which OPG reports, defended the utility's lack of public accountability.

"To the best of my knowledge, OPG isn't being secretive about anything," said Campbell.

Officials at OPG did not return calls from the Star seeking comment on Eves' remarks.