The panel examining how to modernize the Ontario Energy Board has set a detailed timeline for consulting with stakeholders. “This is a key opportunity for market participants to have input into the shape of the future power system,” says APPrO President Dave Butters. The panel is intended to help reorganize energy regulation to ensure it’s ready to meet the challenges of overseeing an increasingly complex and rapidly-changing energy sector.
The Panel will be guided by its Terms of Reference, which are summarized below. The Panel intends to approach the work in four phases through 2018 as follows:
Phase 1 (March-April): The Panel will seek stakeholder feedback on various aspects of the OEB modernization. In parallel, the Panel will engage expert researchers to provide assessments of best practices in other jurisdictions and their applicability to Ontario.
Phase 2 (May-July): The Panel will take stock of the information received to date as it begins to refine its thinking. The Panel expects to release a summary paper of feedback received.
Phase 3 (August-October): The Panel will reconvene with stakeholders and experts in a series of roundtables to discuss specific potential recommendations/approaches that may be applicable to Ontario.
Phase 4 (November-December): The Panel will deliberate based on input received and will prepare its report to the Minister.
In a set of discussion notes, the Board observed that the OECD has outlined 7 principles for the governance of regulators, which can be used to assess the quality of a regulatory system:
• Role clarity;
• Preventing undue influence and maintaining trust;
• Decision making and governing body structure for independent regulators;
• Accountability and transparency;
• Engagement;
• Funding; and,
• Performance evaluation.
The Ministry identified 7 areas of attention in the terms of reference for the Panel. The Board has adapted these areas into themes that it proposes to address as a means of organizing much of the consultation process. They are as follows:
• Mandate and Activities: Does the scope of the OEB’s mandate and activities need to be adjusted (increased, decreased, or otherwise optimized) in order to support the modernization of Ontario’s energy sector? If so, in what way?
• Disruption and Innovation: How can the regulator ensure its policies and practices are best positioned to encourage innovation in Ontario’s energy sector?
• Governance Framework: What is the appropriate governance framework for a modern energy regulator?
• Stakeholder Relationship: What are the effective mechanisms to provide stakeholders with appropriate opportunities to participate in OEB decision-making?
• Relationship to Government: Considering the diversity of Ontario’s energy sector, how can the OEB best fulfill its adjudicative responsibilities and obligations within an accountability framework set by the legislature?
• Regulatory Excellence and Benchmarking: What are fair and meaningful performance metrics for measuring regulatory excellence, both in terms of efficiency of process and effectiveness of outcomes?
• Resourcing: What is the appropriate level of financial and human resources that will best equip the OEB to deliver on its mandate, and what is the appropriate source of its funding?
See also related article “OEB plans to minimize barriers to innovation while protecting consumers,” IPPSO FACTO, February 2018 and editorial, “Modernization of energy regulation is very timely” on LinkedIn.