Electricity deal no deal for consumers

April 24, 2012

Electricity deal no deal for consumers

On April 10th, in response to more than 600 emails from OCAA supporters, Andrea Horwath made her support for the provincial budget conditional on a review of “the electricity sector to bring down costs.”

Here is what she got from Premier McGuinty:

1. A promise to merge the Ontario Power Authority and the Independent Electricity Sector Operator. The merger will reduce costs by up to $25 million per year – or 16/100ths of 1% of our total electricity bill.
2. The appointment of Murray Elston, former President of the Canadian Nuclear Association, to search for ways to reduce the costs of Ontario’s electricity distribution companies (e.g., Hydro Ottawa, Toronto Hydro), which are responsible for 11% of our total electricity bill.

Meanwhile, electricity generation companies are responsible for 80% of our electricity bill, but the issue of where our electricity comes from won’t get a second look. Ms. Horwath was simply unable to persuade the Premier to shelve his plan for high-cost and unnecessary new nuclear projects and use the billions of dollars of savings to reduce your electricity bill while protecting health care and public education.

This is where you come in. We need your help to persuade the Premier to cut some real waste. Please order multiple copies of our new pamphlet to distribute to your friends, neighbours and co-workers. They’re free, and contain a postcard addressed to the Energy Minister. He needs to hear from thousands of ordinary Ontarians that their energy priorities do not include new and rebuilt nuclear projects but rather lower cost, cleaner and greener options.

Thank you.

Angela Bischoff

p.s. Check out back issues of No Nukes News, and if you’d like to receive it in your email box, let me know and I’ll add you.

Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
160 John Street, Suite 300, Toronto, Ont. M5V 2E5
Phone 416-260-2080 ext. 1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
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