Power bills to double by 2030 in Ontario

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Homeowners can expect their electricity bills to double in the next 20 years under a new $87 billion long-term energy plan unveiled recently.

The much-anticipated blueprint from Energy Minister Brad Duguid is almost 50 per cent more costly than a similar $60 billion plan sidelined three years ago.

The new effort predicts home energy bills will increase 3.5 per cent annually until 2030, taking into account a 10 per cent price break starting in January for five years.

Industrial power rates will rise 2.7 per cent a year until 2030 under the plan.

It envisions new nuclear plants and refurbished reactors to keep atomic power supplying half the province's electricity, while increasing conservation efforts substantially and increasing wind, solar and bioenergy to 13 per cent of supply within eight years, up from 3 per cent now.

The cost for that green power is estimated at $27 billion — almost one-third the cost of the entire effort, which will come with a mix of public and private investment.

As per earlier plans, coal-fired plants will be closed by 2014 but two coal units at Nanticoke will be phased out in 2011, three years earlier than forecast.

“While the essential increases we are making are causing electricity prices to rise, more than half of these increases will support clean energy and clean air,” said Duguid, who along with Premier Dalton McGuinty has been under heavy fire for rapidly rising electricity rates.

“These investments will get new, clean renewable generation online. After five years, once this transition is largely completed, prices are expected to level off.”

The government noted the prices of water, fuel oil and cable TV have all risen faster than electricity in the last 20 years.

But parts of the plan appear vague or subject to potentially higher costs than budgeted.

The government doesn't have a firm price for its plan to build two new nuclear reactors at the Darlington plant owned by Ontario Power Generation near Oshawa.

That part of the plan has been delayed with the future ownership of federally held Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. still up in the air. Ontario must negotiate a price with the new owner, but forecast the new plants and 10 refurbished reactors at $33 billion.

A previous price from AECL to build the new Darlington reactors came in at $26 billion and was rejected as too high.

Ambitious conservation targets of 7,100 megawatts by 2030 — up from 1,800 megawatts now — are promised through $12 billion in “innovative energy efficiency programs” and “next-generation” building code updates and tougher standards for appliances, among other things.

One energy industry insider said anyone reading the plan should do so in the context of the provincial election October 6.

“Take it all with a grain of salt. Few in the industry are taking the announcement as seriously as the government is,” the insider said.

“This is a political document meant for the next nine months, not 20 years. Whoever wins the election next fall will 'adjust' the plan.”

The plan will be posted for public comment on the provincial Environmental Registry until January 7 and then is followed by more consultations before submission to the Ontario Energy Board next summer, followed by a review by the board until 2012 — after the next election.

To face down a growing consumer rebellion over rising hydro prices, the government has already announced a 10 per cent discount on bills starting in January for five years. And rates for time-of-use customers on smart meters will go to off-peak rates at 7 p.m. on weekdays starting in May — two hours earlier than now.