Cornwall Ontario is the only city that has long-term electricity supply contract with hydro Quebec, and because of this their residents have the lowest residential electricity bill in Ontario.
Ontario has potential to obtain more low-cost waterpower, but Ontario’s electricity cost are being spend elsewhere. One factor costing Ontario $900 million electricity costs per year, is the Pickering Nuclear Plant. The Ontario Clean Air Alliance shared that the Pickering Nuclear Plant is no long necessary since the source Ontario has electricity surplus, and export from sources that produce more power than Pickering nuclear plant produces.
“Pickering’s reactors will have exceeded their original 30-year design lives when the station’s Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission operating license expires in August 31, 2018. And whereas beginning immediate decommissioning and deconstruction of the plant when its license expires will create 16,000 jobs and save up to $1.2 billion” explains Ontario Clean Air Alliance.
Another reason Ontario has not yet bought into low-cost is the amount of money being invested in Darlington’s Nuclear Station Re-Build.
Monthly Electricity Bills for Typical Residential Consumers
Electric Utility Monthly Bill for Typical Residential Consumer Higher cost
Cornwall Electric $120.66
Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro $137.93 14%
Thunder Bay Hydro $137.95 14%
Kingston Hydro $140.75 17%
PowerStream (Barrie) $140.58 17%
PowerStream (Aurora, Bradford West Gwillimbury, Markham, Richmond Hill, Vaughan) $140.75 17%
London Hydro $143.00 19%
Greater Sudbury Hydro $143.32 19%
Hydro Ottawa $144.20 20%
Enersource Hydro Mississauga $144.25 20%
North Bay Hydro $145.01 20%
Veridian Connections (Ajax, Belleville, Gravenhurst, Pickering, Port Hope) $145.37 20%
Waterloo North Hydro $147.83 23%
Horizon Utilities (Hamilton, St. Catharines) $149.18 24%
Guelph Hydro $149.46 24%
Bluewater Power (Sarnia) $152.49 26%
Hydro One (Urban) $156.30 30%
Toronto Hydro $160.91 33%
Hydro One (Medium Density) $178.95 48%
Hydro One (Low Density) $206.64 71%
Hydro One (Seasonal) $221.93 84%
Quebec is the 4th largest producer of water power in the world and it ahs the lowest electricity rates in North America. Therefore if Ontario were to explore electricity transfer capacity with Quebec, the payback would have a major environmental impact on Canada.
- Lower electricity rates for Ontario consumers and businesses;
- Lower greenhouse gas emissions;
- “Firming” of intermittent renewable power supplied by solar and wind;
- Reducing Ontario’s and Quebec’s need for new peaking electricity generation capacity; and
- Higher electricity export revenues for Hydro Quebec and therefore higher revenues for the Government of Quebec
