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hydro bills Ontario, Lisa MacLeod MPP, North Gower, Ontario, Ottawa wind concerns, Parker Gallant, PCPO, Scott Moffatt Rideau-Goulbourn, surplus power Ontario, wind energy, wind farm, wind power
February 25, 2017
Wind power contracts should be cancelled to control electricity costs: Mike Baggott of Ottawa Wind Concerns
Ottawa Wind Concerns was an invited guest speaker this week at a pre-budget consultation event held by Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod, at the Alfred Taylor Centre in North Gower.
Executive member with the group and North Gower resident Mike Baggott told the audience that while Ontario’s electricity bills are among the highest in North America, more costs, specifically expensive wind power contracts awarded to power developers, were yet to come.
“Everyone wants to do the right thing for the environment,” Baggott explained, “but has the Ontario government done the right thing?” Two Auditors General said there was never any cost-benefit or impact analysis for the province’s green energy plan, and the Wynne government pays twice as much for renewable energy as other jurisdictions do. The expensive wind contracts are among the factors pushing electricity bills up.
“As high as our bills are now,” Baggott said, “they will get worse if projects in Ontario recently awarded contracts are allowed to proceed.”
He noted the power projects in La Nation, east of Ottawa, and North Stormont –both opposed by the local communities — will cost Ontario ratepayers over $600 million for the 20-year contracts.
In all, Ontario is facing $5 billion in new wind power contracts, at a time when the province has a surplus of power. Wind power also cannot demonstrate any benefits to the environment, Baggott said.
“It’s time to stop digging the hole,” Baggott concluded.
The main speaker at the event was Parker Gallant, a former banker whose energy sector analysis is frequently published in The Financial Post, who explained line by line, “What’s in Your Hydro Bill.”
MPP MacLeod outlined steps that can be taken to control electricity costs, and answered questions from the audience.
“It’s hard not to get depressed when you hear, line by line, how we got here with our electricity bills,” commented Rideau-Goulbourn councilor Scott Moffatt.
Parker Gallant: what’s in your hydro bill? A lot of government mistakes
Ottawa Wind Concerns 
Remains unclear to me. Are you against Wind Turbines as a renewable source of Energy or are you against Ontario government and the idiotic “patronage giveaway contracts” they signed, long-term and irrevocable without huge contracted penalties? Are you in fact “against” Bad Business Practices by Wynne or: are you against Wind as a renewable as well as Solar? Remember: Mexico stole Ontario’s manufacturer’s by enticing them with cheap Solar and Wind power. I have a hard time reading your site and your articles because you seem to have conflated all Wind Turbine Power with Ontario’s fiscal problems? The conflation produces cognitive dissonance and makes you appear as a poorly written, poorly planned, Big Oil supported anti-renewable energy propaganda site. Please take a stand against Ontario’s government signing damned irresponsible patronage contracts even for Solar and Gas Plant situations and realize that for a fact: China and Denmark now enjoy pollution free Wind Power, and this was done with realistic, worldly contracts!
The actual presentation dealt with many aspects of Ontario’s wind power program. What was reported here is related to the need to cancel contracts, and the role of wind power in rising electricity bills, as that was the theme of the event.
Wind is already obsolete. Solar is as low as 2.4 cents/kwh in some places. https://www.pressreader.com/canada/the-globe-and-mail-ottawaquebec-edition/20170225/281500751025963
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