Bill 165, Keeping Costs Down…

Bill 165, Keeping Costs Down Act, has been tabled on the premise that it will help Ontarians by keeping their energy bills low. Yet, it brings to mind the Greenbelt fiasco, except this time it is the Ontario Electricity Board’s oversight that is going to be diminished, Enbridge shareholders who prosper ($43.6 billion last year), and the real energy costs will continue to fall into the lap of the consumer and homeowners.

The government is stating that the OEB’s decision to say no to amortizing the cost of further gas pipeline infrastructure for new builds is ‘rash’ and ‘could cost’ new homeowners thousands more dollars to purchase a home. Let’s think about that a bit before we take away important checks and balances from the OEB for the first time in its history.

The OEB decision highlights the additional gas pipeline and hook up costs of urban sprawl plans of this government, for which most of the homes will not be ‘affordable’. The OEB thinks Enbridge and developers should pay to provide a service from which they will reap immense profit.

It is proven that air heat pumps drastically reduce energy bills, given less or no need for fossil gas, and therefore notably reducing its hold in the marketplace. This government refuses to legislate or offer wider incentives for air heat pumps to be included in new builds yet requires homes to be all electric in order to get a provincial retrofit air heat pump rebate.

Before this government, off peak energy was 8 cents per kilowatt hour give or take and that was including the expected transition increase from coal. Since this government, energy costs have risen and will continue to do so as the marketplace comparisons show, with little to no transition to another energy source. Wind and solar are producing electricity far more cheaply than fossil gas (approximately 10 cents per kWh less), and the price continues to drop for those utilities. This government cancelled more of Ontario’s transition into that sector in 2018, costing us $230 million. It is now only quietly considering their renewables misstep after a group of youths took the Premier to the Ontario Court of Appeals and his climate action was found significantly lacking; emissions in Ontario have increased under his watch. This is costing everyone more in insurance, property taxes, health care and food prices, as will the 413.

Coincidentally, this bill is being done on the heels of the government pushing for gas plant expansions which municipalities have categorically said they will not have, increasing output from existing plants when many say its not needed, and not advertising that the cost of energy will double because of their current plan to use fossil gas for electricity generation at least for the next 10 years when viable alternatives exist. The same for the 413. Bill 165 will not ‘get it done’ anymore than the namesake bill.

If the government was really committed to lowering costs, in addition to air heat pumps, it would have legislated increased housing density percentages, and increased the ratio of required affordable housing for new development. It would have done a better job with its Bill 142, Better for Consumers, Better for Businesses Act last year to deal with price gouging at the grocery store, focus on finding family physicians for 1.8 million people who don’t have one instead of costing us more for private care options, and agreed to the federal $10 a day childcare way sooner than it did.

If none of this is of consequence to the reader, then perhaps it might be knowing that this is the first time any Ontario government has tried to override the decision made by this independent energy oversight body while also eliminating its oversight for the future gas pipelines. The OEB’s role is to ‘protect the public and drive energy sector performance’. It makes ‘decisions and rules to ensure that consumers are treated fairly and that the energy sector is reliable and sustainable’. The OEB is fulfilling its mandate and that means a significant loss of revenue for Enbridge if it doesn’t transition to cleaner energy.

Fossil gas is one of the most costly sources of energy, is not considered sustainable, and is one of the worst contributors to the climate crisis through methane emissions, as will be the $12 billion 413. Costing us more in insurance, property taxes, health care and food prices.