A number of Ontario municipalities are taking an important stand for their residents and our climate by calling on the Ford government to drop its plan to protect Enbridge Gas’ subsidies.
Hamilton, Guelph, Whitby, Severn, Lake of Bays, Kingston, County of Prince Edward, and Pelham have all passed resolutions urging the provincial government to not block a decision by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) to end the subsidy for hooking up new homes to Enbridge’s gas system.
The OEB correctly noted that ending this subsidy would lead to lower energy bills for existing gas customers. This was not some spur of the moment decision by the OEB – it came after a year-long hearing that heard from many expert witnesses.
Within fifteen hours, the Ford government announced that it was going to overturn the decision by this arm’s length regulatory body that is responsible for ensuring consumers get a fair deal from utilities.
The Energy Minister made factually incorrect claims that continuing to build gas pipelines will somehow make building new subdivisions faster and cheaper, while ignoring all the evidence that heat pumps will save new home buyers money over time. He chose to defend a development industry stuck in old ways of doing things, and a fossil gas utility desperate to preserve its very profitable pipeline building activities.
Reinstating this subsidy for new methane gas hookups for developers will cost over $1 billion over the next 4 years alone. In addition to higher energy bills (versus heat pumps), these new gas hookups will be bad for new homebuyers who will breath toxic fumes from gas stoves, give their kids a greater risk of childhood asthma, and generate needless carbon pollution (heating with gas generates roughly 20% of Ontario’s carbon pollution). These homeowners will also face the risk of carbon dioxide poisoning from malfunctioning gas equipment, and will pay retrofit costs down the road to switch to zero-carbon heating.
Kudos to these municipalities for taking a stand for a cleaner, lower cost energy future. We need other municipalities to follow their lead and speak up for their residents and businesses. Ask your mayor and council to support the OEB’s decision to lower our energy bills and protect our climate. Reach out to me if you need support.