Advancing Nuclear Opportunities in Ontario

In January 2024, the Ontario government announced that it supported OPG’s plan to proceed with the Project Initiation Phase of refurbishing Pickering Nuclear Generating Station’s “B” units to meet Ontario’s growing electricity needs. The Project Initiation Phase was completed at the end of 2024 and subsequently, in January 2025, the government announced its support for OPG to proceed with the Project Definition Phase of the Pickering refurbishment to develop a final cost and schedule for the project.

As this work advances the Ministry of Energy and Electrification (ENERGY) is considering potential amendments to Ontario Regulation 53/05 (Payments under Section 78.1 of the Act) to be made, if approved, under the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998 to allow the following:

• Clarifying the scope of what can be recorded in the existing Pickering B Extension Variance Account (PEVA) to ensure that OPG can recover prudently incurred Pickering station-level and corporate costs for 2024-2026 which allow it to retain the capacity and readiness to operate the Pickering B units post-refurbishment, pending a final government approval and nuclear regulatory approvals of the refurbishment of Pickering units 5 through 8.

In 2022, following government support for OPG to operate Pickering B units (i.e., Units 5 to 8) to September 2026 instead of shutting down the units at the end of 2025, ENERGY amended O. Reg. 53/05 to create the Pickering B Extension Variance Account (PEVA). The PEVA allows OPG to record prudently incurred capital and non-capital costs and foregone revenues (i.e., lower output due to additional outage work) associated with operating Pickering B for the additional period.

The PEVA also allows OPG to record any additional revenue from the additional electricity generation at Pickering “B” between January 2026 and September 2026 (the “Pickering B extension period”). Any net benefit from the additional Pickering operation to 2026 would be reflected in this account. OPG is expected to return any net benefit (i.e., revenues in excess of costs) to ratepayers.

The proposed amendments to the PEVA would ensure that OPG can recover prudently incurred Pickering station-level and corporate costs for 2024-2026 which allow it to retain the capacity and readiness to operate the Pickering B units post-refurbishment, pending a final government approval and nuclear regulatory approval from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to proceed with refurbishment.

The proposed amendments to the PEVA would have no impact to the environment.