As the Ford government flails away at cutting electricity costs, its new plan is to have a consultant review existing electricity generation contracts – with the exception of the ones that are at the heart of rising electricity rates.
The government has decided that its consultant will not be allowed to look at the multi-billion-dollar Bruce Power contract that covers the rebuilding of six aging reactors on the shores of Lake Huron. Nor will he or she be allowed to look at the costs of the multi-billion-dollar Darlington Re-Build project. This is like looking at how to cut your expenses without looking at your credit card bill.
This plan once again highlights how the government’s biases are blinding it to real cost-saving opportunities, like importing low-cost water power from Quebec and investing in energy efficiency.
According to our Three Options to Reduce Ontario’s Electricity Costs report, we can reduce our electricity costs by up to $6 billion per year by importing Quebec power and investing in energy efficiency instead of re-building nine aging nuclear reactors.
We don’t need a blinkered paper-pushing exercise. We need to move away from high-cost nuclear and adopt sensible energy solutions if we are serious about lowering bills.
Please contact Premier Ford (premier@ontario.ca and cc me) and ask him to direct his consultant to look at all the options to reduce our electricity costs, including reducing our dependency on high-cost nuclear power.
Please pass this message on to your friends.
Thank you!
Angela Bischoff, Director