Fuschi’s Canadian Forum

There are some schizophrenic aspects to the McGuinty government’s renege on the price they are willing to pay for solar power. Energy minister Brad Duguid’s explanation on the sudden move of guaranteed price, from $.80 /kwh to around $.60, is that he is concerned about the future costs to Ontario’s ratepayers.

First, let’s ask the long overdue questions, why is the government guaranteeing eighty cents in the first place, when current hydro generation is costing ratepayers seven cents /kwh? The short answer is that the Dalton gang wants to go down in history as the guys who made Ontario the greenest place in north America. Therefore, the shift to solar and wind power and other pie-in-the-sky solutions is driven by government money not hard facts. Hence, the reason Duguid’s ministry is suddenly swamped with solar panel projects is because the entrepreneurs interested are smarter than the government. (What a surprise.) Not because they want to go green! Not because this shift makes any sense! Simply put, if some idiot wants to paper the countryside with other people’s money, they are willing to take a cut.

The schizophrenic part is in the government’s reaction. What part of this could not be foreseen? Where did the government hope to find the money to pay for this eco-lunacy? Why did they compound that with long-term contracts (nine billion dollars worth) with Samsung? At what point was the government going to become concerned with feasibility and cost-effectiveness of the runaway train they have put in motion?

The sacrificial lamb in this picture has the face of Ontario’s ratepayers. Why is Duguid suddenly concerned? Did he not know previously that eighty cents is more than seven? Or did he and McGuinty think that they could do this incrementally and raise the rates on consumers, as more solar/ wind power came on-line? (Would McGuinty try and sneak more taxes in, like that?) What has happened, instead, is that the demand for free money by solar entrepreneurs, has outstripped expectations. And, while McGuinty wants to reap the rewards of becoming Ontario’s green Santa Claus, the government of  the have-not province he created, is broke, has screwed the taxpayer enough, and can’t find a way to pay for this grand illusion. What’s worse, they can’t hide the coming rate increases behind their eco-bafflegab, because the idiotic smart meters they foisted on everyone, will be telling the rate story every minute of every day.