In response to recent Ministry proposals to change the Long-Term Energy Planning Framework in Ontario, the Ontario Energy Association says in a September letter to the Minister that it has no significant concerns with the summary proposal. However, quoting the provincial Auditor General, it does find flaws in the process, that have “resulted in significant costs to electricity consumers,” and created a lack of transparency and accountability: “[T]he advice of system planning experts at the Independent Electricity System Operator and Ontario Energy Board [are] often over-ridden by a small group of advisors” at the Ministry level itself in closed-door decision-making.
The OEA calls for the following reforms to the planning process:
a) Set in legislation the government’s role in setting broad social and economic goals for the electricity sector;
b) Require any government guidance and changes to the framework for the electricity sector to go before the legislature for approval;
c) Leave implementation and oversight of collaborative electricity and natural gas energy system planning to their respective independent agencies like the IESO (electricity only) and OEB (electricity and natural gas);
d) Ensure the reformed planning framework is integrated, subject to consistent and appropriate oversight, and informed by customers’ needs and preferences;
e) Require full transparency in decision making, including cost-benefit analysis and comparison of alternatives for major systems and regulatory planning decisions; and,
f) Competitive processes should be used for the procurement of system resources, whenever feasible, in the future.
For more information, see this report. See also this month’s editorial, “The value of transparent and independent planning.”