Utility ReformWhat to do about high energy pricesGordon Powers 25 Sep 2008 MSN Finance With energy prices soaring, is this the right time to lock into a fixed-rate gas contract or should you stick with the floating rate offered by your utility? read more » Ontario's Energy CrunchLawrence Solomon 2 Apr 2008 Keynote address at Enercom Conference, Fairmont Hotel Good morning. I have some good news for you this morning. The good news is that Ontario has an easy and painless way out of the energy fix that we're in. I have some bad news for you, too. Our government doesn't know it, and, I am certain, neither do most of you in this room. Because of what you don't know, we face a future in which we all may freeze in the dark. read more » Natural gas firms crave the spotlightTyler Hamilton 1 Apr 2008 Toronto Star With all the talk of building new nuclear power plants and expanding the use of renewable power and conservation programs in the province, the natural gas sector is looking for a little love these days. But Norm Rubin of Energy Probe said he is concerned with the "huge uncertainties" related to the future price of natural gas and its availability. read more » Ontario's RoadmapKen Silverstein 10 Mar 2008 EnergyBiz Insider Energy policy isn't just consuming U.S. lawmakers. It's also dominating the Canadian agenda and particularly the province of Ontario. The current government there recently unveiled its long-term supply roadmap that plans to double the amount of renewable energy by 2025 and refurbish or replace the province's base-load nuclear capacity. But it also expects to phase-out the use of coal-fired generation by 2014 -- a strategy that had to be put off for seven years. read more » The U.K. miracleLawrence Solomon 26 Sep 2007 National Post In Canada, our electricity systems operate like little islands, isolated from the world around them, oblivious to innovation and insulated from the real economy by regulators that administer prices.. read more » Small-scale plants run rings around nuclearLawrence Solomon 29 Sep 2006 National Post 'If we don't go nuclear, what type of energy will meet our future energy needs," I'm often asked. "Do you think fringe fuels such as solar energy can take the place of nuclear? Or windmills? Bio fuels? Small dams? Tidal power? Burning garbage?" read more » Electricity supply for OntarioEXCERPT 13 Jun 2006 House Hansard: Session 38:2, June 13, 2006 Oral Questions 1440 The Speaker: New question. The leader of the third party. Mr. Howard Hampton (Kenora-Rainy River): Speaker, a question for the Premier. Today will go down as the day that Dalton McGuinty hit the nuclear button: $40 billion for expensive, unreliable and environmentally risky nuclear plants; $4 out of every $5 of your electricity scheme for nuclear plants, not counting cost overruns. read more » Regulated gas a pain for ManitobansTom Adams 14 May 2006 Winnipeg Free Press In an effort to shield consumers from fluctuating natural gas prices, the Manitoba Public Utilities Board has inadvertently created a trap for householders that could add as much as $10 million to the gas bills of consumers. A coal disasterTom Adams 29 Apr 2005 National Post Ontario begins to phase out coal power on Saturday, starting with the closure of the Lakeview coal-fired generating station west of Toronto. Inefficient and heavily polluting following decades of neglect by its previous owner, Ontario Hydro, Lakeview's retirement will allow people downwind of it to breathe easier. Don't show your billTom Adams 5 Feb 2005 "Don't show your bill," watchdog warns Ontario consumers Energy Probe, a national consumer and environmental watchdog, is warning consumers to avoid showing their gas and electricity bills to door-to-door representatives of energy marketers. read more » Time to move energy-intensive industries offshoreLawrence Solomon 16 Oct 2004 Lawrence Solomon To counter the high energy prices that consumers now face, governments in Canada and the U.S. have been subsidizing domestic energy production. This dirty government business lowers the bill a little for consumers but raises it a lot for taxpayers, making us worse off in the exchange. Expose the truth about the nuclear industryTom Adams 28 Apr 2004 We have learned that the federal government has quietly begun giving its friends in the nuclear industry new access to the public purse, in order to fund plans for massive nuclear power growth. Privatization's powerTom Adams 25 Mar 2004 Financial Post Governments that privatize electricity generators provide their citizens with cheaper, dependable power. Why is Ontario heading into darkness? With bankruptcies and blackouts on Ontario's electricity horizon, the Ontario government is poised to shelve plans to create a competitive market. Instead, it will remain with the monopoly system that has brought Ontarians some of the highest costs on the continent. To boot, it is likely to soon become one of the continent's most unreliable power systems. read more » Efficiency priorities for electricity distributorsTom Adams 18 Feb 2004
Review of Electric LDC Efficiency Issues Energy Probe’s Recommendations on Efficiency Priorities for Electricity Distributors
Tom Adams Executive Director Energy Probe is the only organization with a plan to save Ontario's energy systemTom Adams 9 Dec 2003 The Tories under Ernie Eves had no plan, only a hodge-podge of contradictory policies – price freezes, billions in new spending on the nuclear industry, subsidies to conservation, pretenses at deregulation. That way lay ruin. Lessons of the August 14th blackout in the U.S. and CanadaTom Adams 8 Dec 2003 Energy Probe's presentation to the US-Canada Power System Outage Task Force 2003 Thank you, on behalf of Energy Probe, for the opportunity to present our ideas on how to reduce the risk of widespread power disruptions in future. Energy Probe is a 24 year old citizen-based environmental and consumer research and advocacy organization dedicated to promoting environmentally responsible and economically efficient solutions to Canada's energy problems. read more » Dim-bulb ideaTom Adams 24 Sep 2003 National Post To solve its energy problems, the Tory government in Ontario is trying a dim-bulb idea. It is ordering energy companies to pay customers to not use their products. Then, to compensate the companies, the government is allowing them to tack the associated costs onto customer bills, sometimes years later. Why we should conserveLawrence Solomon 28 Aug 2003 National Post Some Ontarians don't understand why they should conserve electricity, as Ontario Premier Ernie Eves implores them to do. For these dunderheads, let me connect the dots. read more » Power to consumers, not monopolies Lawrence Solomon 21 Aug 2003 Power to consumers, not monopolies Fifty million North Americans suffered inconvenience and expense in the Great Blackout of 2003. Not one will receive any compensation. Millions of companies also suffered inconvenience and expense, and lost business that they will never make up. Amid the ruins, however, lie a lucky handful of companies who will have their losses covered. The lucky are among the electricity monopolies that brought us the Great Blackout of 2003. read more » Bring back strong regulation - and corporate responsibilityTom Adams 16 Sep 2002
Dear Friend: Three years ago, when Enron tried to bring a California-style power system to Canada, Energy Probe, working with the Canadian regulatory system, stopped it dead in its tracks. That ended a risk of needless blackouts and bankruptcies that devastated the California economy. read more » Financial Update on Ontario Electricity FinancialTom Adams 9 Sep 2002 Ontario Electricity Financial Corporation (OEFC), the legal continuation of Ontario Hydro, released its 2001-2002 financial results on Aug. 29, two months behind the schedule required by law, but a marked improvement over its first two years of operations - which commenced with the breakup of Ontario Hydro in April 1999. Clear away barriers for smart electricity metersTom Adams 8 Jul 2002 Toronto Star Re: No incentive to conserve energy, Editorial, July 4. Kudos to the Star for speaking up in favour of more intelligent electricity meters. Smart meters capable of keeping up with continuously changing spot prices are the front line of customer protection in Ontario's new electricity market. Some utilities are making great strides upgrading to smart meters. One leader is Milton Hydro, where all customers using more than 100 kilowatts have been upgraded. read more » Electricity Metering Options for Ordinary Consumers in Competitive Electricity MarketsTom Adams and Allen Stanbury 12 Apr 2002 Prepared with the Financial Assistance of Industry Canada Executive SummaryIn Canada, the United States and many other jurisdictions around the world electricity markets are changing. Liberalization, including commodity price deregulation and customer choice, already exists in one Canadian jurisdiction, is imminent in another and under active consideration in several more. read more » Shame on the Globe and MailTom Adams and Randal Marlin 18 Mar 2002 Attention: Letters Editor and Publisher Shame on the Globe and Mail for publishing disguised advocacy advertising in its six page "Special Supplement on Ontario's New Electricity Market," appearing in the Monday, March 11, 2002, issue. read more » 'Direct Energy' still misleading Ontario electricity consumersTom Adams 8 Feb 2002 A document released Feb. 6, 2002, by Opposition leader Dalton McGuinty shows that Direct Energy is continuing to mislead consumers. See previous Energy Probe reports on these problems at: http://www.energyprobe.org/energyprobe/index.cfm?DSP=titles&SubID=623. The document - a Direct Energy Q&A intended for training door-to-door sales staff - contains a number of misleading statements. read more » The process works - Re: "Procedural pitfalls" by Gord Perks (Enviro, Dec. 16)Eye magazine December 23/2004 The process works Re: "Procedural pitfalls" by Gord Perks (Enviro, Dec. 16) In criticizing the Ontario Energy Board for its passionless debate, Perks has overlooked the pattern of environmental success that arises from due process and meaningful energy prices. read more » Runaway nuclear by Tom AdamsNational Post October 26/2005 Runaway nuclear by Tom Adams read more » Coal comes clean by Tom AdamsNational Post November 4/2005 Coal comes clean by Tom Adams read more » Dark days ahead by Tom AdamsNational Post February 9/2006 Dark days ahead by Tom Adams read more » Century of mayhem by Tom AdamsNational Post June 8/2006 Century of mayhem by Tom Adams read more » Parkinson's flaw by Tom AdamsNational Post December 21/2006 Parkinson's flaw by Tom Adams read more » |
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