Pledging to Spend Ratepayers’ Money

Ontario’s Power Trip: Pledging to Spend Ratepayers’ Money | FP Comment | Financial Post:

"The Ontario Power Authority (OPA) issued a newsletter last month which opened with the headline “saveONenergy PLEDGE a winner for Ontario” and went on to state that; “The 2011 saveONenergy PLEDGE campaign ended on December 31, with nearly 110,000 Ontarians pledging to conserve electricity.” Later in the newsletter it mused that “if all Ontarians were to act on their pledges” annual savings of 75 million kilowatt-hours could be realized.
While 75 million kWh sounds like a lot, it represents only 17 kWh for each of the approximately 4.4 million ratepayers who would each save less than $2 for the year. Before they rush out to buy that coffee with the money they saved, however, they will first have to pay for the media campaign that the OPA ran and those coupons to purchase the CFL bulbs and to pick up the old fridges. That cost for 2010 ran to almost $65 for each of those same 4.4 million households as the OPA business plan for 2010 showed planned spending of $286.6-million to support the local distribution companies (LDC) in their initiatives to promote conservation. Those expenses find their way to both the regulatory line and the delivery line of the electricity bill delivered by your local LDC."

Read the full article at the Financial Post website