Ontario power officials breathe easier as crisis eases

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Ontario's power crunch is over — at least until the next heat wave.

The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), which oversees Ontario power supply, lifted an advisory urging people to reduce electricity consumption.

Paul Murphy, IESO's chief operating officer, praised Ontarians for heeding the call to save power during the recent spell of record-setting temperatures.

"The efforts of the Ontario consumers and businesses who heeded the call to conserve electricity reduced the load on the system and provided us with the flexibility that we needed to continue to reliably operate the power system," Murphy said in a statement.

"Their efforts are very much appreciated," he added.

"Although the power advisory has been lifted, we continue to urge the responsible use of electricity and customers should always look for ways to reduce their consumption."

Premier Dalton McGuinty echoed that sentiment, pointing out that while Ontarians cannot do anything about the warm weather, they can control their record power use.

"There's no doubt about it, we're having a very hot summer and more and more of us are using our air conditioners, more than we have in the past," McGuinty told reporters.

"The responsibility that we can take on as individual consumers of electricity is to do our very best to conserve," he said, urging consumers to continue to do their part to save power.

"Turn up the air conditioner, make sure the blinds are drawn, where possible hang out the clothes to dry, put the dryer and dishwasher on later at night, after midnight if at all possible. Those are the kinds of things we can do."

He made his comments at an education event with striking Hydro One workers picketing outside and chanting, "Wake up, McGuinty."

"I'm disappointed that this has dragged on for so long but I remain hopeful," said McGuinty, adding a mediator has been appointed to help end the dispute.

At Queen's Park, Energy Minister Dwight Duncan was blaming the previous Progressive Conservative government for power supply problems.

"We all wish we weren't at this wall. Unfortunately, if these decisions had been made seven or eight years ago we wouldn't be," said Duncan, adding 9,000 megawatts of new power is scheduled to come on line in the next several years, which should ease the strain.

Until then, Duncan warned Ontarians to be expected to do their bit over the coming few summers to prevent power shortages.

The minister acknowledged he was worried about the power supply during the heat wave.

"I'll tell you, there were a few days there where I was nervous and I wouldn't want to understate that," said Duncan.

That sort of attitude left NDP Leader Howard Hampton wondering about the Liberals' electricity strategy.

"The plan of the McGuinty government seems to be cross your fingers and hope for a cold front," said Hampton, who is touting conservation measures such as tax incentives to encourage people to buy energy-efficient refrigerators to replace older fridges.