My understanding is that an…

My understanding is that an ICI participant (usually a larger Class A energy consumer) can buy energy credits from a renewable energy supplier to offset what they would otherwise be charged for a ‘Global Adjustment’ (GA). The Grid only has so much capacity and must be able to handle peak capacity, The intent of the GA is to have those who use it pay proportionally so that energy consumption within the peak 5 hours is the most expensive. This encourages shifting consumption to off-peak times and helps smooth out the usage of the grid without building even more capacity just to meet a peak.

In a way that is what BESS will do in theory but my guess is that most BESS isn’t large enough to shift Class A consumption so the government will just allow ICI consumers to fake it by buying renewable credits just like a carbon credit which we already know does nothing to reduce carbon emissions.

Even worse is the concept that an ICI could just contract directly with a wind company or solar company rather than BESS and encourage even more intermittent turbines/solar to be built as there is nothing in ERO 429/04 to indicate that this contracted power has to be produced during those 5 hour peaks. Those peaks are most likely during the daytime and wind produces best when demand is low and out of phase.

While the net cost to Class A is not expected to change, the GA process identifies that all costs not absorbed by Class A for the GA will be passed on to Class B which is the average consumer.

1. As this amendment is intended to encourage more renewables it means that already ridiculous energy costs in Ontario will increase as the price paid for renewables is higher than base generation.
2. More renewables means more connection points onto the grid which equals reduced reliability and higher maintenance costs.
3. Adding more renewables that are out of phase with demand does nothing to improve availability of energy when needed.
4. Most renewables do not actually help climate change and in fact add to it as natural gas plants are required for backup
5. Class A consumers will only do this if there is a benefit to them. The cost of that benefit will be shifted to your average Class B consumer like myself.
6. Ontario energy consumers cannot afford any more energy increases and shifting costs to the tax base as the pool of taxpayers is even smaller than energy consumers taking away from much needed social programs and affecting affordability and basic needs