Auditor General report confirms: the “guru” was right
The Auditor General of Ontario’s report, released December 9, 2014, confirmed what many of us have been saying for years: the electricity sector in Ontario is a mess and the Liberals created it! As this writer noted in an article, now four and a half years old, the Ontario Liberals were throwing ratepayer money around hoping some of it would actually create some value. About that time then Minister of Energy, Brad Duguid, referred to me as a “self-appointed guru” on television program. Well, sadly, the guru was right…about everything.
Perhaps I should ask for an apology, and here’s why: I called the mess correctly, from the perspective of both the energy portfolio to the mess in Infrastructure Ontario! The latter, according to the AG report, is an $8-billion mess and the former a $50- billion dollar mess, including the $2 billion wasted on those not so smart, “smart meters.” The following excerpt from the AG’s report verifies what I and several others have been saying:
“The total Global Adjustment charged to ratepayers has grown from $654 million in 2006 to $7.7 billion in 2013, as shown in Figure 10. With more new contracted generators, especially of renewable energy, expected to begin producing energy at higher contract prices, the total Global Adjustment is expected to grow further, to $8.5 billion in 2014 and $9.4 billion in 2015. From 2006 to 2015, the 10-year cumulative actual and projected Global Adjustment is about $50 billion—an extra charge to ratepayers over and above the market price of electricity.”
While deficit spending in Ontario was increasing our debt to as much as $325 billion (noted in the AG report) by 2017−18 the ruling Liberal government was also slamming ratepayers with additional billions, perhaps missing the obvious conclusion that ratepayers and taxpayers are one and the same!
The Christmas pudding delivered by the Wynne-led Liberal Government is full of lumps of coal!
©Parker Gallant,
December 9, 2014
The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent Wind Concerns Ontario policy.
14 Comments
Joe
The hydro file was a mess long before the Liberals got their hands on it. They have not improved the situation. The Conservatives dithered over Hydro and switched tracks so many times when they were in power. Go back far enough and you will find the NDP were no better.
Sommer
Why do you suppose that the Auditor General did not respond to the specifics of the public letter sent to her office last August, by Sherri Lange of the North American Platform Against Windpower?
https://www.masterresource.org/canadian-wind-issues/letter-to-auditor-general-for-ontario-from-north-american-platform-against-windpower/
Richard Mann
The problem here is people DO NOT want to face the fact that Industrial Wind Turbines are not working. That is, they are not reducing C02 emissions — not at any price. The Ontario Society for Professoinal Engineers (OSPE) and Fraser Institute reports listed below clearly show this.
If we face up to this, if we actually stop turbines, we are admitting defeat.
Admitting that we have done NOTHING in the decade to address Climate Change.
People would rather go on with “wishful thinking”, that turbines will somehow “save the planet”. That is easier to swallow than the engineering, environment, and economic reality.
References:
“Wind and the Electrical Grid – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – Energy Task Force Presentation”. Ontario Society of Professoinal Engineers (OSPE), March 22, 2012. (www dot ospe dot on dot ca)
http://www.ospe.on.ca/resource/resmgr/doc_advocacy/2012_doc_14mar_windelectrica.pdf
McKitrick, Ross (2013). Environmental and Economic Con-
sequences of Ontario’s Green Energy Act. Fraser Institute.
http://www.fraserinstitute.org/uploadedFiles/fraser-ca/Content/research-news/research/publications/environmental-and-economic-consequences-ontarios-green-energy-act.pdf
parker Gallant
Joe, You are right. For some reason politicians think they are equipped to determine how the electricity sector should be run. Bill Davis stopped and started the Darlington build three time adding $7 billion (mainly interest costs) to the final costs of the nuclear plants and the Liberals after being elected thought they should listen to the environmentalists and have totally made a complete mess of what was already a mess. As a result Ontario has the most complicated electricity system operating in all of North America. Even Obama hasn’t made a mess the size of what we have here. I am a big fan of the KISS principal but I am not a politician!
Sommer: I suspect that the AG was busy conducting the review and determining what the report should contain and (I believe) is prohibited from responding to the general public before presenting the report to Parliament. I think the results of the report now speak for themselves and we should use the info to pressure our elected officials to change. Go get em!
Petra Wall
How do we fix the ‘hydro’ problem now? Do we collectively stop paying for our hydro? Do we hire a lawyer to defend our ‘human right’ not to have a wind turbine in our back yard? How do we deliver a ‘non confidence’ vote to stop the government ? ….to keep them from wasting more money on ineffective wind turbines until they become effective and economically feasible and are placed far away from people.
thebiggreenlie
WE and I mean “informed” citizens stated back in 2008 that the Green Energy Act was a death sentence for Ontario and it’s electricity consumers………….why it took 6 years to state the truth makes one wonder if anyone uses the internet at Queen’s Park. The other amazing hypocrisy of this foul mess is that Andrea Horwath seems to be the most “indignant” MPP in legislature decrying the mess this Liberal Government has created in Ontario. Look at the Green Energy Act and Ms. Horwath’s signature is one of the 54 miscreants that signed it!!!!!!!!
Bob Lyman
The most frustrating aspect of this, I suspect, is that regardless of how right Parker Gallant and other critics of Ontario electricity policies have been, and no matter how high have been the unnecessary costs imposed on ratepayers and the Ontario economy, the current government not only continues to endorse the same policies but would almost certainly implement them all over again, even knowing what hindsight now offers. Even worse, they would be supported by a majority of Ontario voters who have been sold the remarkable lie that all these unnecessary costs are “saving the planet”. It is still important for the Auditor General and others to continue to do the analysis and publish the numbers showing how truly unwise current electricity policies are. However, people also have to take aim at the environmental (i.e., climate change) nonsense that fundamentally underlies public support for these policies.
Wind Concerns Ontario
The term that is being seen more is “climate chaos” instead of climate “change” presumably to take into account the reports that the climate is actually cooling… Something is chaotic, alright.
Sommer
This is a link to a current conversation that might be very interesting to people who can grasp this sort of information.
http://judithcurry.com/2014/11/05/more-renewables-watch-out-for-the-duck-curve/
Ernie Coates
in the 1970’s, when I was in high school. We had a saying, go work at Bruce Power and play hide and seek for a thousand a week.
You win th lottery with a hydro job. Way too high wages. The overall payroll must be staggering.
Joe
The workers at a nuclear plant make big money and they should. I want the best employees they can get. Not the best employees they can get for low wages.
Joe
Just to be clear, I don’t work and have worked at a nuclear plant or Ontario Hydro.
Joe
Sorry, …never worked…
Sommer
Check out this article on Germany’s “historic industrial debacle”:
http://notrickszone.com/2014/09/20/germanys-debacle-23-of-wind-projects-running-badly-to-very-badly-case-of-the-missing-wind/
Thank you, Parker for all you are doing to try to bring the situation in Ontario to the attention of the media.