Electricity Pricing

[UrbanWaterloo]

Electricity Pricing

http://www.statejournal.com/images/020609051456_energy%20prices3.jpg
http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=51404

[UrbanWaterloo]

Ontario slaps new 'green' tax on electricity bills
Levy will cover Liberal conservation programs
Robert Benzie, Queen's Park Bureau Chief
Published On Sat Mar 20 2010 - http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/782663--ontario-slaps-new-green-tax-on-electricity-bills

http://media.thestar.topscms.com/images/35/bf/319bfafe4d08a0b7cdaeb10b9ba7.jpeg
Energy Minister Brad Duguid, shown March 10, 2010, says fee will help Ontario get cleaner air.

Ontario electricity customers will soon be slapped with an additional tax to cover $53 million of the Liberal government's new conservation and green energy programs, the Star has learned.

The levy will appear on hydro bills just as the 13 per cent harmonized sales tax is about to be charged and as smart meters are being phased in, which one industry insider described as "a perfect storm" for consumers already rattled by rising energy costs.

A government document – innocuously entitled "Ontario Regulation Made Under The Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998, Assessments For Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure Conservation and Renewable Energy Program Costs" – outlines the fee in great detail.

"The total amount to be assessed by the (Ontario Energy) Board ... is $53,695,310," the five-page regulation states.

It stipulates the assessment be issued by April 15 and the money paid by July 30, but utilities can spread the $4 annual increase to customers in bills over the course of a year. Industrial and commercial ratepayers will also pay the fee.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak warned Friday it is "nothing but a sneaky tax grab" by the Liberals.

"This is just the latest in a long series of tax and fee grabs hitting Ontario families through their hydro bill alone," said Hudak, charging the proceeds "will be used to create another Liberal slush fund" for pet initiatives.

Energy and Infrastructure Minister Brad Duguid said the government was aware of the potential for backlash, but that's a small price to pay for cleaner air since conservation makes it easier to phase out coal-fired power plants by 2014.

"When costs go up there's always the concern about consumer reaction," Duguid said in an interview.

"I don't think we ever sneeze at the amount of money because every little bit adds up. But at the same time, it's about $4 for this year for consumers and it's a one-year program. It gets reassessed every year," the minister said.

"The alternative is either to keep polluting the lungs of our kids through coal, or not have a reliable supply of energy, which would be disastrous to our economy and to our quality of life," said Duguid.

"This ... gets us out of dirty coal, which is harming our health and the health of our kids and grandkids in the future, and it ensures that we have a reliable and sustainable supply of energy ... for future generations," he said.

"When consumers think it through, this is something consumers should be embracing as something that we all have to do together to create this `green revolution' in Ontario."

Duguid said the money would pay for home energy audits and a program that helps industrial and commercial firms switch to solar power.

Promoting conservation is part of Premier Dalton McGuinty's push to transform Ontario into a leading jurisdiction for green energy, such as solar and wind power.

"Conservation is the most economical way for us to ensure that we have enough energy supply going forward into the future. So it's more economical than producing more green energy, more economical than modernizing our nuclear fleet," said Duguid.

"So it is the best bang for the buck for the consumer. But there's a cost to it. It's modest, but there's a cost to it. Frankly, there's no better alternative for consumers than improving our conservation efforts."

Critics say the timing is lousy for ratepayers because as of July 1, when the provincial sales tax is harmonized with the federal goods and services tax, consumption levies on utility bills will be 13 per cent instead of 5 per cent. (Currently only the 5 per cent GST is charged on such bills, not the 8 per cent PST.)

"When you combine this new charge with HST and soaring costs due in part to smart meters, it's the perfect storm for consumers," said one industry official.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the pain never seems to subside for electricity ratepayers.

[IEFBR14]

Waterloo Region embraces power of the sun (http://news.therecord.com/printArticle/725178)

http://media.therecord.topscms.com/images/03/c5/3c2d64b4496880734aa986dcc779.jpeg
The Region of Waterloo's Brian Bechtel (left) and Tony Aasman, of Arise Technologies, hold a solar panel that will be installed on the roof of a Region building on Maple Grove Road.


Local politicians are mounting solar panels on 37 more roofs, to help promote solar energy and earn provincial cash.

The $18-million regional government project will put panels above child care centres, the Sunnyside nursing home in Kitchener, public housing units, a new Waterloo police building, the regional museum in Kitchener, a new transit garage in Kitchener, and an operations centre in Cambridge.

“I think this is entrepreneurial, green and forward-looking,” said Coun. Sean Strickland, of Waterloo.

Panels will all be installed by 2013. Combined they will generate enough juice to power nearly 200 homes.

Bureaucrats say the panels will more than pay for themselves, accumulating nearly $5 million in extra cash by 2032. That’s because Ontario, angling to develop renewable energy, has pledged to buy the solar power for 10 times what it currently costs to generate electricity in coal-fired, natural gas and nuclear facilities.

Councillors approved the venture Tuesday after asking planners if they have considered all risks.

For example, what if solar panels break down? Can the roofs hold the weight? What if better technology emerges later? What if the province reduces its premium rates after high solar costs hike electricity bills? Is it smarter to rent roofs to solar investors?

“It sounds like it’s all glory and profit. But have we really costed out the breakdowns and repairs?” asked Coun. Jean Haalboom, of Kitchener.

Planners assured councillors they have sought to account for everything that could possibly go wrong.

Among their answers: the region will seek only proven technology and will get warranties. Maintenance costs are understood and included. A contract will guarantee the Ontario premium for 20 years.

Other roofs are still available for emerging technologies. Ownership with managed risk provides better returns than leasing at low risk. After 20 years, solar panels could be converted to power individual buildings, if selling the electricity is no longer the better financial option.

“I’m going to reluctantly support this,” Wilmot Mayor Wayne Roth said. He worries the province may downscale solar subsidies after consumers revolt over rising electricity bills.

Kitchener, Cambridge and Waterloo councils are also mounting solar panels. The regional installation is more than three times bigger.

Local firms can bid to supply the solar panels. Council intends to consider all qualified suppliers.

Excess cash could be spent to ease taxes or pay for environmental initiatives. In most years it’s estimated at less than $200,000. “This is not a get-rich-quick scheme,” said Coun. Tom Galloway, of Kitchener.
I hope Arise wins a good chunk of this. That would certainly help them promote their technology.

[Shawn]

Received with my Kitchener Wilmot Hydro (http://www.kwhydro.ca/) Bill, I got a couple enclosures explaining that Time-of-Use (TOU) Prices are coming my way soon. According to the information Kitchener Wilmot Hydro's application to the Ontario Energy Board to begin charging the new Distribution Rates has been approved to begin May 1st, 2010. Just because you have a Smart Meter (http://www.kwhydro.ca/pdfs/smart_meters_faq.pdf) doesn't mean you're being charged the TOU rates yet. They will begin rolling that out and the consumer will be notified once the new rates apply to them.

The brochure shows the following pricing structure effective May 1st, 2010

Tiered Prices
6.5 cents - for energy use up to and including 600 kWh per month
per kWh
7.5 cents - for energy use above 600 kWh per month
per kWh

Time-of-Use (TOU) Prices
On-Peak price ------------- > 9.9 cents per kWh
Mid-Peak price ------------ > 8.0 cents per kWh
Off-Peak price ------------ > 5.3 cents per kWh

Summer-Weekdays
On-Peak time is 11am to 5pm
Mid-Peak time is 7am to 11am & 5pm to 9pm
Off-Peak time is 9pm to 7am

Weekends & Holidays
Off-Peak time is All Day

Winter-Weekdays

On-Peak time is 7am to 11am & 5pm to 9pm
Mid-Peak time is 11am to 5pm
Off-Peak time is 9pm to 7am

At first glance, my electric bill is going to go way UP considering the Off-Peak time savings is only 1.2 cents per kWh savings versus the fact I'll be paying 1.5 cents more per kWh for my time at Mid-Peak and 3.4 cents more per kWh for my time at On-Peak. Sure you can shift things like laundry to off-peak time, but it's not very reasonable to expect people to shift activities such as cooking dinner to 9pm.

[Urbanomicon]

Weekends & Holidays
On-Peak time is All Day

That's BS. Electricity consumption is substatially lower on weekends and even lower on holidays due to most businesses being closed.

Power rates and the predicted versus actual power consumption data for Ontario can be found here: http://www.ieso.ca/imoweb/siteShared/demand_price.asp?sid=ic

Peak demand for weekends and holidays is always lower than for weekdays (with similar weather as temprature plays a large role in demand). Since price is proportional to consumption, weekend pricing should be considered "Off-Peak" during the day.

[TripleQ]

Take a look here for a general idea of what your appliances/etc costs.. the big ones are cooking, laundry and air conditioning. Cooking you can't do much about, but certainly laundry is movable, and air conditioning is pretty flexible if you're smart about it. I learned from UW, that it's pretty feasible to cut air conditioning usage a LOT just by opening windows at night and during most of the day. That way most of our a/c usage is in the late evening to cool things down for bed, and that's mid/off-peak. Most nights we can then open the windows again at bedtime, and that helps cool down for the next day. The house stays pretty cool and bearable all the way into the evening without a/c if windows are left open. I can't stand it when I hear all my neighbours a/c running full blast all day even when it's only like 22 outside.

edit: oops, here's the link

http://www.wnhydro.com/energyconservation/SavingEnergy.pdf

[TripleQ]

Oh, and weekends/holidays are actually all off-peak. I think there must be a typo somewhere.

[mpd618]

Oh, and weekends/holidays are actually all off-peak. I think there must be a typo somewhere.

Yeah, weekends and holidays are off-peak, as confirmed by the Ontario Energy Board (http://www.oeb.gov.on.ca/OEB/Consumers/Electricity/Smart+Meters).

[metropolis]

Take a look here for a general idea of what your appliances/etc costs.. the big ones are cooking, laundry and air conditioning. Cooking you can't do much about, but certainly laundry is movable, and air conditioning is pretty flexible if you're smart about it. I learned from UW, that it's pretty feasible to cut air conditioning usage a LOT just by opening windows at night and during most of the day. That way most of our a/c usage is in the late evening to cool things down for bed, and that's mid/off-peak. Most nights we can then open the windows again at bedtime, and that helps cool down for the next day. The house stays pretty cool and bearable all the way into the evening without a/c if windows are left open. I can't stand it when I hear all my neighbours a/c running full blast all day even when it's only like 22 outside.

It's all pretty common sense really. I have so far this year only needed to turn on my air once for maybe 2 hours other than that keeping the windows open as you say overnight really cools the house down. On the hottest days put a fan near a window and it does wonders also.

[jay]

Ya opening windows helps sometimes, when it's around 21 out... but if you live in a noisy area it can be annoying.

My condo for example is so cheap in hydro I run my a/c 24/7 pretty much in the summer and the cost of electricity is still less then it costs in delivery to my condo. Paying 50$ a month is so minimum that I don't bother opening my windows at night.

[Shawn]

Oh, and weekends/holidays are actually all off-peak. I think there must be a typo somewhere.

Yes, you are right. It's a typo. I've fixed the orginal post. I tried to find this same information on their website but I couldn't so unforunately it was manual typing from a paper document. Good catch!

[Shawn]

At first glance, my electric bill is going to go way UP considering the Off-Peak time savings is only 1.2 cents per kWh savings versus the fact I'll be paying 1.5 cents more per kWh for my time at Mid-Peak and 3.4 cents more per kWh for my time at On-Peak. Sure you can shift things like laundry to off-peak time, but it's not very reasonable to expect people to shift activities such as cooking dinner to 9pm.

People who know me will confirm that in the winter I freeze in the dark and in the summer, roast in the dark. I turn off and unplug my computer every night and generally keep my consumption as low as possible. I think the biggest surprise in the Time-of-Use pricing for me is the actual price per level.

I expected to see the "mid-peak" price to be the same as my tiered price of 6.5 cents per kWh, however the "mid-peak" price is even higher than the high usage tiered rate of 7.5 cents per kWh! Then I expected a better discount for "off-peak" (more than the 1.2 cents per kWh discount that it is), say something similar as the 3.4 cents per kWh premium you pay for "on-peak". I guess what I'm saying, is that for someone who already is energy conscious (not necessarily me, but someone who follows the energy guidelines) should be rewarded with this TOU pricing structure.

I may have to sit down and calculate the difference assuming a completely "flat" usage level 24/7 and see if there are any savings and then "play" with typical usage peaks and valley's and see what type of customer actually will benefit from these TOU prices or if it's just another cloaked "money grab" under the guise of being "green".