County News
Giving with one hand…
McGuinty government tries to salvage votes through electricity bill rebate
Electricity prices are up 20 per cent this year and projected to go much higher in part due to expensive industrial wind engergy projects like this one, on Wolfe Island,that are guaranteed rich returns on investment withing 20-year contracts.
In an effort to soften the blow of rising electricity costs in Ontario the McGuinty government is offering consumers a 10 per cent rebate on hydro bills over the next five years. But the move will come as little solace for most Ontarians who have witnessed electricity rates rise 20 per cent in the last two years. Worse, they must brace themselves for another 46 per cent over the next five years, according to a government statement.
Meanwhile the cost of the rebate, about $1 billion a year, gets added to the government’s already creaking debtload. Hastings-Prince Edward MPP Leona Dombrowsky defended her government’s management of the energy file in an interview with the Times.
“We made a commitment that we were going to move away from coal-fired electricity generation that kills people and costs the people of Ontario $3 billion per year in medical costs,” said Dombrowsky. “This is morally wrong. We are moving to cleaner energy. But there is a cost to that.”
Dombrowsky says Ontarians must endure short-term pain to achieve her government’s energy policy goals.
“We are going through a period of transition and that means rates are going up. We also know that rates will level off in future years—and become more manageable.”
Just in case the moral argument doesn’t persuade voters, her government is offering some relief.
“In the short term we realize that we needed to do something for families to help ease them into the new regime,” said Dombrowsky.
Dombrowsky is betting that most of her electorate shares her distaste for coal fired electricity.
“The people of Ontario have made it clear they want clean, green energy—they don’t want dirty coal. We have a plan to get off coal, pay our debt and capture savings in our health ministry.”
The glitch in this argument is that the very expensive sources of electricity in which the provincial government is investing—namely wind and solar energy—can’t replace coal. Coal-fired electricity along with hydro, gas and nuclear are used as base-load electricity sources—in that they can be turned up and down as needed to meet the bulk of the electricity needs of the day. Intermittent sources of generation—wind and solar—can’t be called up when needed; nor can this electricity be stored. This is why despite 20 years of wind and solar electricity generation experience, Europe’s reliance on coal-fired electricity remains as strong as ever. Moreover, the continent intends to build 50 new coal-fired plants over the next decade.
Dombrowsky countered that it take a range of measures in order to close Ontario’s coal-fired electricity generation plants.
“There isn’t just one solution to this—we are going to see people continue to conserve energy, we are going to see more energy-efficient products in the marketplace. And we are going to have more clean, green renewable energy.” “We know that people want clean green energy, and we’ve listened to Ontarians and we are helping them to transition to this place.”
To fund this relief to hydro bills the provincial government is foregoing the opportunity to pay down debt. Dombrowsky says Ontario’s improving economy has given her government the flexibility to ease electricity bills. “We believe that by 2015 we will have balanced the books in Ontario. We are ahead of where we projected we would be at this time. That reflects that Ontario is coming out of the recession more quickly than anticipated.”
She insists her government is on the right track in managing Ontario’s energy supply.
“There are jurisdictions that don’t burn coal for energy,” said Dombrowsky. “We intend to become one of those places—that’s our future. Our government is on the right track.”
The election next fall will, in part, be a referendum on how well her Liberal government managed this file.
“Dombrowsky says Ontarians must endure short-term pain to achieve her government’s energy policy goals.
“We are going through a period of transition and that means rates are going up. We also know that rates will level off in future years—and become more manageable.””
Ms. Dombrowsky has, as all Liberals have done when discussing power in Ontario, mouthed the same script, without variation, as written by McGuinty before the election.
It is comforting to hear that rates will level off 46% higher than they are today in five years. Does she seriously think anyone believes that because the rates will then be more “manageable” that they’ll stay at that level? If she were straight with us she would admit that we are in for some serious long-term pain for decades to come.