1.The City of London…

1.The City of London supports the overall direction outlined in Planning Ontario's Energy Future: A Discussion Guide to Start the Conversation.

2.The Province of Ontario is to be commended for recognizing the role that municipalities have

been playing in planning the energy needs of their communities, and the City of London encourages the province to continue to work in partnership with municipal governments.

3.The Province of Ontario is to be commended for addressing many of the concerns that the City of London identified during the previous stakeholder consultation on Ontario’s Long-Term Energy Plan, specifically:

a.starting to take a holistic approach to energy planning to address all of Ontario’s energy needs – heating, cooling, transportation, and electricity generation – and the energy commodities (e.g., electricity, natural gas, petroleum fuels) used to meet these needs;

b.involving other provincial ministries in the review and development of Ontario’s Long-Term Energy Plan;

c.exploring the use of combined heat and power as well as district energy systems (i.e., microgrids) where thermal energy needs to make CHP a cost-effective solution; and

d.engaging municipal staff involved with land use planning, development, and building permits at the beginning of the review to revise the rules associated with siting and approving regional energy infrastructure.

4.The City of London encourages the Province of Ontario to strongly and clearly communicate their message from the Discussion Paper that Ontario’s electricity supply system is now in a good position for the future and that future electricity prices are not expected to rise as a result of Ontario’s Climate Change Action Plan. Many London homeowners and businesses have expressed concerns about recent electricity price increases and they have strong concerns that this will continue for the future. Unless these concerns are alleviated, there could be challenges with obtaining public acceptance of the Long Term Energy Plan.

5.The City of London encourages the Province of Ontario to place a greater emphasis on raising “energy literacy” for both homeowners and businesses in a manner that provides easy-to-understand, open and transparent information on the financial and environmental impacts of energy use and sources of energy used in Ontario. This information needs to come from a trusted and reputable entity that is neutral and unbiased in its assessment and communication of this information. Municipal governments such as the City of London have been playing a role in raising energy literacy at the local level as part of their community energy or climate change action plans.

6.The City of London continues to encourage the Province of Ontario to take a holistic approach to the design and development of new conservation programs that takes into account the interrelationship between power, heating, cooling, water, and transportation energy needs associated with buildings, facilities, and industrial processes. Conservation programs need to be delivered with a “building as a system” approach, rather than the narrow single-commodity focus usually associated with utility-delivered conservation programs in Ontario.

7.The City of London encourages the Province of Ontario to relax existing Ontario Energy Board rules that prevent electricity distribution companies and natural gas distribution companies from playing an active role in the implementation of solutions, such as development and ownership of public electric vehicle charging infrastructure and CNG fueling infrastructure.

[Original Comment ID: 206455]