Free the renewable energy market in Ontario

Heavy Legislation is responsible for keeping privately owned renewable energy expensive and unattainable for the average Ontarian.

In Ontario, we have heavy legislation in the Green Energy Act and Renewable Energy Approvals under the Environmental Protection Act. It's no secret that Ontario has some of the highest hydro bills in North America, and probably on the planet. (probably in the entire milky way for that matter)...   

The strange thing is, after you strip away the carbon tax, HST, global adjustment fee and delivery rates, Ontario has some of the lowest hydro rates in North America.

Why is that?

Legislation protects the hydro monopoly from open competition in the market, keeping government bureaucrats and their corporate cronies filthy rich, while the rest of Ontario suffers from energy poverty.

Scientists agree that renewable energy—wind, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, and biomass—provides substantial benefits for our climate, our health, and our economy.

The government subsidizes all forms of energy. This way they can easily control it.

The Ontario microFIT program was well meaning but it was administered so haphazardly it eventually put almost everyone out of business. The rules were changed without warning, the program was suspended without notice several times and there was and still is no accountability. Policy risk remains the biggest problem in the solar industry.

Even the recent announcement that the government is going to subsidize hydro by 25% is a disaster for everyone.

A disaster for the public because they will add billions of dollars of debt to do it. A disaster for solar because they have essentially subsidized every form of energy to the tune of 25% with the exception of distributed generation.

Solar net-metering projects are now competing with the grid that is being subsidized 25%

Now, picture this;

You live in a rural area.  You know of a farmer that has several barns with steel roofs.  The farmer covers the rooftops with solar panels and builds a few wind turbines on his property that connect to a building full of batteries.  He then goes to his neighbours and offers to sell this surplus green energy at a cost cheaper than that of the government-backed Hydro One monopoly.   The neighbours agree and this increases the farmers' income which allows him to sell his crops locally for lower prices, encouraging people to buy local.

You live in Toronto, near several large sky scrapers.  The owner of the sky scrapers installs solar windows that connect to a side building or basement full of batteries.  The owner then goes to his neighbours and offers to sell this surplus green energy at a cost cheaper than that of the government-backed Hydro One monopoly.   The neighbours agree and this increases the landlords' income which increases the marketability of his company and drives up stock value, encouraging more investment money to flow in to the Province.

It is a known fact that competitive pricing forces companies to lower their prices to attract new consumers.   Who is in competition for Hydro consumers in Ontario?  No one.  It's a government backed monopoly, a crime syndicate, that is out of control and can only be reigned in by freeing the market to competition.  No additional legislation can "fix" Ontario hydro pricing.  More legislation just adds another layer of bureaucracy, which requires MORE government administration that ties up MORE tax payer funds that could better be allocated to healthcare or education.

So whenever you are looking at your hydro bill, and you wonder WHY your hydro rates are so high, thank the organized crime syndicate that is the Ontario Government, both past and present...

Liberal, Conservative, NDP....  their answer is the same.... they want MORE government, MORE legislation and MORE control over the market.  If these governments TRULY want to help our planet and reduce our pollution footprint, they would look at allowing us MORE CHOICE.

It's time we stood up and said ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

Think about it at the polls next year.

Ontario WANTS clean energy.

Ontario WANTS to keep the planet clean.

Government is PREVENTING us from doing this ourselves, because they simply DON'T TRUST THAT WE CAN DO THIS.

We need to have more affordable access to renewables.

It's time to set them FREE!