THUNDER BAY – Vic Fedeli charges, “Recent filings to the Ontario Energy Board confirm surplus wind power is costing Ontarians a small fortune.” The Nipissing MPP and PC Energy Critic adds, “The province’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) says unless market rules change, surplus wind power will cost electricity ratepayers up to $200 million a year. (Toronto Star, Feb. 27, 2013)”.
Vic Fedeli – Loses total billions of dollars
“We have lost literally billions selling our surplus power to Quebec and the United States — some estimates peg the number at over $500 million last year alone,” Fedeli added. “The filings from the IESO only provide further proof that we need to cancel the Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) program which provides rich subsidies to wind producers, and that we need a moratorium on any further wind power development in Ontario.”
In Thunder Bay a wind farm proposed for the Nor’Wester Escarpment has generated enormous controversy in the community. Sources tell NetNewsledger that it is very unlikely that the Fort William First Nation will permit the project on their lands. Currently the project is undergoing legal action again as well as hitting environmental blocks over the impact on endangered species.
Fedeli notes wind power is made mostly at night, at periods of low demand. “That excess power can’t be stored, and is then given away to our neighbours,” notes the MPP. “This provides our neighbours with cheap power which they use to compete even harder against us for jobs and investment,” Fedeli said.
In his 2011 report, the Auditor General said Ontario lost $1.8 billion over six years in selling our surplus power outside of Ontario.
PC leader Tim Hudak states, “We also need to take a sensible approach to energy in our province. Energy used to be an economic strength for Ontario. For decades we could offer businesses and families affordable and reliable energy rates. Now our rates are among the highest in North America – and they keep climbing.
“We need to restore energy as an economic fundamental,” continued Hudak. “Instead of doubling down on failed expensive industrial wind farm experiments. That’s why we will restore local decision making because municipal councils have the right to decide what’s best for their communities”.
