Response to “Mad about your Hydro Bill? Blame Nuclear and Gas Plants”
April 23, 2013
Article by John Spears, Toronto Star
April 19, 2013
April 23, 2013
Editor
Toronto Star
1 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5E 1E6
Dear Editor,
Your story (Mad about your hydro bill? Blame nuclear and gas plants – April 19th) seriously distorts some of the facts about the Global Adjustment to Ontario electricity bills.
It would be more accurate to point out that a megawatt of wind-generated electricity received a Global Adjustment of $74 in 2011, according to the Ontario Power Authority. A megawatt of nuclear-generated electricity received a Global Adjustment of $26. In other words, electricity generated by wind power received a Global Adjustment nearly three times the adjustment for nuclear.
It is true that nuclear received a larger share of the Global Adjustment in 2011 than did wind. That’s because nuclear provided 56.4% of Ontario’s electricity last year while wind provided just 3%.
Yours sincerely,
Heather Kleb
President
P.S. The attached table may prove helpful.
| Electricity source | Global adjustment per MW ($) | Energy production (TWh) | Share of electrical supply (%) |
| Wind | 74 | 5 | 3 |
| Hydro | 62 | 34 | 22 |
| Gas | 54 | 22 | 15 |
| Nuclear | 26 | 85 | 57 |
| Other (incl. coal) | N/A | 5 | 3 |
Sources: Column 2 — Amir Shalaby, VP Power System Planning, Ontario Power Authority, Presentation to the Association of Power Producers of Ontario 2012 Conference, Nov. 6, 2012 (Slide 17); Columns 3 and 4 — Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator Releases 2012 Electricity Production, Consumption and Price Data, Independent Electricity System Operator, Jan. 11, 2013, retrieved April 22, 2013.
