Having originated with the Ontario Energy Board, a proposal to design an energy consumer charter for Ontario was recently endorsed and taken a step further by energy policy experts at the Mowat Centre. Releasing a policy paper on September 22, the Mowat Centre highlights the proposed charter as an initiative that could go beyond simply protecting consumers’ rights, potentially helping to militate against barriers to consumer choice being erected in the future.
Explaining its reasoning, the Mowat Centre report notes that, “Technological advances in areas such as solar power, smart grid and energy storage now enable Ontarians to take a more active role in managing their own energy consumption and even to contribute energy to the market. (Our paper) makes the case for a new consumer charter that goes beyond the relationship between ratepayers and utility companies to encourage greater consumer participation in energy markets and regulatory processes in Ontario.” The report, titled, “Energizing Consumers: A Proactive Consumer Charter for Ontario,” combines distilled stakeholder input and analysis of energy consumer charters in peer jurisdictions, with a view to informing an ongoing Ontario Energy Board process to design an energy consumer charter for Ontario.
The paper finds that some consumer charters are reactive, capturing consumer rights from existing legislation and regulation. Other consumer charters however, are proactive, creating new and broader consumer rights aimed at facilitating more effective consumer engagement in regulatory decision-making as well as greater participation in energy markets. The report concludes that a proactive consumer charter would empower such consumer participation in Ontario’s energy sector, whereas a more reactive consumer charter would miss this critical opportunity.
“With the unprecedented amount of change underway in the energy sector, clear and precise language in a consumer charter of this nature could help tremendously in supporting regulatory stability through challenging times,” said APPrO Executive Director Jake Brooks. “It will require some careful thinking about the rights that consumers and their representatives should expect to have in terms of active participation in energy markets.”