The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) made the smart decision to end subsidies for building gas pipelines to new residential developments.
Within days, the Ford government announced that it’s going to overrule the OEB and protect the massive subsidies – $250 million per year – handed to Enbridge Gas.
This is a bizarre decision that only serves the interests of Enbridge Gas, while costing every gas customer in Ontario money (existing customers are the source of the money Enbridge receives).
The government’s claim that ending these subsidies will raise housing costs and slow home building are simply nonsense. Not spending time and money on extending gas lines will, if anything, speed up home construction, and super-efficient electric heat pumps and induction stoves will lower homeowners’ energy bills.
Who is the Premier protecting when he steps in to overrule an independent tribunal tasked with protecting consumers from utility gouging?