Where will provincial electricity savings go?

Dalton McGuinty announced earlier this week that Ontario power rates were going up. On April 12, 2006, the Premier stated that "Our generation should pay for the actual cost of electricity we're buying." Earlier in the month, he told reporters that governments had historically shied away from forcing Ontarians to pay the true cost for the utility, and that "The net result was that we have saddled ourselves and our children with billions of dollars in debt accumulated because we didn’t pay the actual cost of electricity.”

Billions of dollars in debt.

I have been unable to nail down the total sum Ontario residents as a whole will see added to their hydro bills. We know the hikes are in the 15% range and that it will cost about $10-20 per month over and above what they were already paying.

So the subsidies are ending. The Ontario government is longer spending money on them. What will it do with its savings? I told a local MPP that this would be a perfect opportunity to announce a rollback of the so-called health premium, offsetting the electricity price hike with what amounts to a tax cut. I was assured that this move by the McGuinty government is not intended on being a "money maker" - somehow I have a hard time believing that.

On top of it all, Ottawans will pay even more due to their municipal utility boosting the 'delivery charge' as well, exposing residents of the Nation's Capital to a double whammy. That's another story for another day. Alex Cullen brought this issue to the forefront earlier this week and I cannot wait to see how the City of Ottawa tries to spin that story. I digress.

So... Jim Watson, Madeleine Meilleur, Richard Patten et al, what's it going to be? We were asked to choose change a while ago. We did, and it's costing us big time right now. Is this Liberal government going to sock the money aside to spend on incentives for Ontarians to vote Liberal again in 2007? I can only hope so at this point. In the meantime, I look at the health tax I have to pay every two weeks and in a month or so, I'll look at my bigger electricity bill.

As I said in a number of places last summer, don't tell me to conserve energy this summer by turning my air conditioning down. Since last summer, dozens of new businesses were built on parking lots and farmers fields in Ottawa. Hundreds if not thousands of homes have popped out of the ground in what used to be rural neighbouring communities. How much additional demand has been put on the grid in the last 12 months? I thought we were trying to conserve electricity, not adding to the demand. All these condo developments in the urban core will add to the strain - so don't blame me and my air conditioners when it's 34 degrees outside in a couple of months. I'll enjoy my comfort - and will pay for it. It's not my fault the grid will be strained - blame the politicians who continue to approve new subdivisions and shopping centres while we supposedly don't have the electricity to power them.

Last time I checked, when General Motors or Toshiba see dramatic increases in demand for their products, they make more. If infrastructure isn't in place to do so, they build new plants. Come on, Ontario - figure it out. Regardless of whether or not those who lived in Ontario in 2005 cut their consumption by 5% or even 15%, any savings will be more than exceeded by the extra demand coming from the new residences and businesses that become occupied each and every day.

Enough with the dancing around... fix it once and for all. If this is the first step, fine. Just tell me it is and I'll stand back and watch while solutions to a chronic problem are put in place.