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This Bill, introduced on June 15th, received second reading on June 29th
and has been referred to the Standing Committee on Social Policy, which
will meet over the summer months. The Bill would allow the Ministry of
Energy to set provincial targets for energy conservation, create incentives
for the private sector to invest in the creation of new energy sources,
give power to the Ontario Energy Board to regulate and periodically review
and adjust electricity prices, and create the Ontario Power Authority,
to ensure an adequate, long-term supply of energy.
Electricity prices have been very onerous for the hospitality sector.
In fact, member interest on this issue was extremely high. The ORHMA has
been lobbying the Provincial government to take action on this issue.
On November 11th, Premier Eves announced that his government would take
a number of steps to ensure that residents and businesses were protected
from these increased prices.
Unfortunately, when the Government introduced this legislation a number of issues remained unclear. The Bill stated that residents and small business would receive the 4.3 cent per kilowatt-hour rate; however, the Government has defined small business as those customers that use 150,000 kilowatt-hours per year or less. As you are aware, most businesses and a majority of the Association's members use more than 150,000 kWh/a. This definition does not reflect reality. The Association has won assurances from the Minister of Energy that the 150,000 kWh per year figure used to define a small business will be significantly increased in regulations.
The Bill also did not mention the Premier's promise that large businesses would be eligible to opt-in to the 4.3 cent rate. Although the Minister had assured the Association that this promise would be kept, it would appear that this is not the case.
On the 21st of March the Ontario Government announced the second phase of its plan to reduce the cost of electricity. The announcement increases the small business threshold for eligibility to receive the 4.3 cent rate from the 150,000 KwH to 250,000 KwH per year. The Government, however, stopped well short of the Premier's November 11th promise that all businesses would be eligible to opt-in to the 4.3 cent per KwH capped rate.
Hydro Memo April 17, 2003 ( )
ORHMA letter to Energy Minister Nov 29 02 (MS Word)
ORHMA letter to Premier Eves and Cabinet (MS Word)
ORHMA Member Update on Hydro (MS Word)
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