Learning From Mistakes: Improving Governance In The Ontario Electricity Sector

Over the last 10 years, the government has directed the expenditure of billions of dollars of public money on electricity projects with virtually no oversight or checks and balances. During this time, Ontario consumers have seen a large increase in electricity prices, with more to come.

In response to concerns about the rising cost of electricity and poor governance, the Ontario government has touted its proposed Bill 135 as the solution. However, far from solving the concerns about electricity-sector governance, the proposed Bill entrenches and expands the status quo and provides no role for oversight of government electricity directives.

The provincial government should move away from controlling electricity planning and instead leave the acquisition of supply to those who are responsible to meet fact-based demand requirements or, in the alternative, the government should only set broad policy objectives and not make choices on which technologies and