The Northern Ontario Municipal Association is asking the provincial government to apply a regional price for electricity in northwestern Ontario.
NOMA President Wendy Landry says her association strongly believes our region should receive the benefit of low-cost hydro-electric generation scattered throughout the area rather than the higher blended price applied to the entire province.
Landry says lowering the cost of electricity will attract new industry and save northwestern Ontarians money.
The Common Voice Northwest Energy Task Force Report concluded that customers in the northwest would see their electrical bill decrease by 20 per cent if a regional price was implemented.
The Task Force along with NOMA have laid out several key conditions they want met before a regional price is issued in our region.
They include the following;
- Zonal pricing should include hydroelectric generation being priced at cost plus a reasonable return on the shareholder’s equity.
- Zonal price for Northwestern Ontario should be based on a blending or averaging of the actual cost of acquiring electricity for the region.
- Blended zonal price should be based on annual costs.
- Load growth itself should not be allowed to force up the blended zonal price.
- Where the existing contracts require a rate per kWh greater than what the blended zonal price is, the IESO/OEB should find a mechanism that will offset the difference in the rate. If no offset is available, the holders of those contracts should be so advised, and notice given that at the end of the existing contract, they should bear in mind the blended zonal rate. The OEB is asked to support this position.
- Residential and small business consumers must directly benefit from a blended zonal price for Northwestern Ontario. The Ontario Energy Board requirement that Local Distribution Companies (LDCs) must charge the province-wide RPP prices to residential and small business customers should be replaced with permission for the LDCs to adjust their residential and small commercial rates to pass through the benefit of a blended zonal price to their ratepayers.
- After five years of the application of a blended zonal price that a formal analysis and review occur.
- In addition, should the blended zonal price rise to the point where it matches the average price across the rest of Ontario a formal review of the concept should occur in order to identify ways in which the pricing structure can be reduced for Northwestern Ontario.