what on earth does electricity cost near you?

[3930dave]

Only three of the seven commissioners were appointed by the current governor and the merger was announced two years before the current governor was sworn into office. If there was collusion among the commission over the deal it was from commissioners appointed by governors of both parties. The previous two governors left a great stink in the air.

My impression of the commission's past decisions was that they were sorta fair with the increases but the wacky merger with a sudden change of CEO's at the last minute and the rapid price increases is odd to say the least. Frankly, I don't see that the merger was in the best interest of the rate payer nor the stock holders but I don't know if the commission could really prevent the merger. One could make a dang good argument that Duke shareholders were shafted because of the mess at the Crystal River nuke plant that was owned by Progress. Duke almost bailed out of the deal supposedly because of Crystal River, but by that point, I was not trusting one word spoken by the Duke CEO.

Later,
Dan

Govt run utilities tend to be somewhat innefficient, but in comparison seem to behave like choirboys....

IMO, handing over total control of utilities that people can NOT do without to the private sector makes about as much sense as donating high-end military weapons to pickpockets. If you thought they were creating mischief and havoc before..... just wait a bit !

Rgds, D.

 

[Pilot]

We pay $10 plus about $.10 per KWH. To get the exact rate you need an Enigma decoding machine.

We get a lot of our power from hydro, but the idiots in charge of the state don't count hydro as renewable. They want to encourage inefficient, expensive wind, wave and solar (solar where it rains 9 months out of the year) which only work with government subsidies, which the wind, wave and solar businesses turn around and give to the politicians' campaign funds so they can stay in office.

 

[Pilot]

We pay $10 plus about $.10 per KWH. To get the exact rate you need an Enigma decoding machine.

We get a lot of our power from hydro, but the idiots in charge of the state don't count hydro as renewable. They want to encourage inefficient, expensive wind, wave and solar (solar where it rains 9 months out of the year) which only work with government subsidies, which the wind, wave and solar businesses turn around and give to the politicians' campaign funds so they can stay in office.

 

[jaotguy]

Oh joy .... their rates are going up again .... I can hardly wait to pay them 950.00 an month during winter next year ....

 

[Looking4new]

Oh joy .... their rates are going up again .... I can hardly wait to pay them 950.00 an month during winter next year ....

But in January 2016 they are stopping the dreaded 'debt retirement' charge AND the clean energy credit. Which translates on my bills to a $10.oo increase on top of the rate increase.

 

[jaotguy]

all the more reason to "throw the b*ms out" come next election.

 

[3930dave]

Oh joy .... their rates are going up again .... I can hardly wait to pay them 950.00 an month during winter next year ....

At those prices, paying somebody to deliver wood might be worth looking at.

Rgds, D.

 

[buickanddeere]

Price of power sky rocketed on Ontario after American experts who's nuclear knowledge was limited to a navy reactor. These experts threw out the previous 30 years of proven low cost building and maintenance of the power plants. With full time staff with a vested interest of running stations with four or eight units per station . The US experts went with navy way and what the US utilities copied of having a very minimal staff at one unit stations. Then calling in contractors for service and repairs.
I watched Ontario Power Generation and Bruce Power get gouged with cost over runs and extended outages that greatly benefited the outside contractors. There are a few high placed utility and government officials who have received some generous contributions to Cayman Island bank accounts and other perks.
Outside companies now bill OPG and Bruce power $160 per hour to supply staff . Who have no interest or ownership in the company to repair equipment and make the units operate. Who gain from making a 9 month long re-tube last five years. Instead of paying 1/3 the cost for their own employes who want to make the units operate.

 

[3930dave]

Price of power sky rocketed on Ontario after American experts who's nuclear knowledge was limited to a navy reactor. These experts threw out the previous 30 years of proven low cost building and maintenance of the power plants. With full time staff with a vested interest of running stations with four or eight units per station . The US experts went with navy way and what the US utilities copied of having a very minimal staff at one unit stations. Then calling in contractors for service and repairs.
I watched Ontario Power Generation and Bruce Power get gouged with cost over runs and extended outages that greatly benefited the outside contractors. There are a few high placed utility and government officials who have received some generous contributions to Cayman Island bank accounts and other perks.
Outside companies now bill OPG and Bruce power $160 per hour to supply staff . Who have no interest or ownership in the company to repair equipment and make the units operate. Who gain from making a 9 month long re-tube last five years. Instead of paying 1/3 the cost for their own employes who want to make the units operate.

A good summary of how privatization "saves" money.... a few people's off-shore accounts is where the "savings" collect....

Some jurisdictions have had enough of these "savings", and are looking at or are implementing de-privatization.

The scale of the corruption here is pretty staggering. A billion $ to NOT build a gas-fired plant ? How many hundreds of millions of that went back into the pockets of top officials.....

Public run, with meaningful (as in go-to-jail) independent auditing is probably the ideal scenario.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Not that anybody will be surprised....

Ontario hydro rates rising with winter hours schedule | Ontario | News | Toronto

TORONTO - It's jolt time.

Ontario is raising its hydro rates again Saturday as time-of-use electricity customers switch over to the winter hours schedule.

That means running a dishwasher or clothes dryer in peak hours 7-11 a.m. and 5-7 p.m. will gobble up electricity at the rate of 14 cents/kWh.

Middle-of-the-day hydro, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., will cost 11.4 cents/kWh, while overnight, weekends and holidays will set users back 7.7 cents/kWh.

Since 2002, a combination of Liberal and Conservative bad decisions, bad policies on electricity have driven up rates 325%, NDP energy critic Peter Tabuns said Friday. "A combination of private power deals that are extremely expensive, subsidized power exports to the United States, gas plants scandals all come together to make electricity rates more and more unaffordable for people in Ontario." Ontario should take control of the price at which it exports electricity, rather than offering it at market rates usually far below the actual production cost, he said.

Signing deals with private power producers also means Ontarians are paying for profit margins through their hydro bills, and a moratorium on further privatization of the system is needed, Tabuns said.

Just hours later, the Ontario government released a letter written by NDP MPP John Vanthof to Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli urging the renewal of a private electricity deal with Atlantic Power in his riding of Timiskaming-Cochrane.

"Not only does the plant stabilize the local economy, it has the same impact on the regional power grid," Vanthof says in his letter dated August 3, 2013.

Jennifer Beaudry, a spokesman for Chiarelli, said the NDP signed nine private power generating deals when in government in the early 1990s.

"Peter Tabuns' tough talk against 'private power deals' is laughable considering his own party is currently advocating for private power generation in Northern Ontario," Beaudry said.

"When the NDP last formed government, energy prices skyrocketed, they abandoned long-term planning and cancelled conservation programs. Our investments in our electricity grid has played a major role in helping Ontario eliminate coal-fired generation and create a clean, affordable and reliable electricity system."

Chiarelli announced Friday that he will appoint Bruce Campbell as CEO of the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) with a mandate to merge the organization with the Ontario Power Authority (OPA), a move that the government expects will save millions of dollars.

Ye Olde Export Power at Below Production Cost trick..... another great topper upper for those Cayman Island accounts.....

Rgds, D.