Ontario’s deal with Quebec won’t reduce cost of hydro bills

subscribe

Canada -

Ontario spends $21 billion a year on electricity, so $10-million savings won’t make a difference to people’s bills.

Ontario’s new deal to buy electricity from Quebec won’t shave a penny from hydro bills but will trim greenhouse gas emissions in the fight against climate change.

“If we can get cheaper power that reduces our carbon footprint … that is a good deal for Ontario,” Premier Kathleen Wynne said Friday as she signed an agreement with her Quebec counterpart Philippe Couillard.

Neither government would reveal the price Ontario is paying for the clean hydroelectric power, saying it is “commercially sensitive” for Hydro Quebec in negotiation with customers in the U.S. northeast.

But Wynne said the seven-year pact will save $70 million — or $10 million annually — from what Ontario had expected to pay electricity suppliers over the period, reducing reliance on natural gas-fired power plants.

Given that Ontario spends $21 billion a year on electricity, it’s no surprise that $10 million in savings won’t make a difference on hydro bills, said New Democrat MPP Peter Tabuns, his party’s energy critic.

“Because it’s so small, there’s not an awful lot here,” said Tabuns (Toronto-Danforth), adding the reduction of one million tonnes of greenhouse gases a year under the deal is welcome but is just 0.5 per cent of Ontario’s total emissions.

“Scientists and economists will be able to detect it. Ordinary people will not.”

Progressive Conservative energy critic John Yakabuski said he was disappointed on behalf of Ontarians struggling to pay their hydro bills.

“Today’s announcement does absolutely nothing to address the hydro rate crisis,” the MPP for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke said in a statement.

Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault hailed the deal as a “step in the right direction” to get more power from Quebec over existing transmission lines at cheaper rates than Ontario can produce.

Under terms of the agreement, Ontario can import up to two terawatt hours of hydroelectricity from Quebec — which is enough to power a city the size of Kitchener for a year.

As well, Hydro Quebec will use surplus Ontario power from renewable energy to pump enough water behind its hydroelectric dams to produce 500 gigawatt hours — enough to serve North Bay — at Ontario’s request during times of peak demand.

The deal is the latest step Wynne’s government, trailing the Conservatives in recent public opinion polls, is taking to ease pressure on hydro bills with a general election coming in June 2018.

Starting in January, the government, which last month axed plans for another $3.8 billion in renewable energy, will waive the 8-per-cent provincial tax from electricity bills.

Source - Toronto Star

Related News

ev charging station

Electric Utilities Plot Bullish Course for EV Charging Infrastructure

WASHINGTON - Electric providers in Florida, Ohio and New Jersey recently announced plans to expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure through various incentive programs that could add thousands of new public chargers in the next several years.

American Electric Power in Ohio will offer nearly $10 million in incentives toward the build out of 375 EV charging stations throughout the company's service territory, which largely includes Columbus.

Meanwhile, the Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G), an electric utility provider in New Jersey, has proposed a six-year plan to support the development of nearly 40,000 electric vehicle chargers across a wide range of…

READ MORE
substation pie chart

Four Major Types of Substation Integration Service Providers Account for More than $1 Billion in Annual Revenues

READ MORE

power-outage-in-northeast-dc

Power Outage in Northeast D.C.

READ MORE

vladimir putin inspects computer terminal

Russian hackers had 'hundreds of victims' as they infiltrated U.S. power grid

READ MORE

trudeau environment

Canada could be electric, connected and clean — if it chooses

READ MORE