Well yes and no - that's one issue; the other was that OH's nuclear programme was entirely out of whack (Darlington was seriously overbudget, the "nuclear cult". etc). Also neither the government nor successor corporations were able to predict and manage capacity issues - recall the glut of power post early 90s recession; the diddling during the Harris/Eves era; the mad dash for consumer efficiency/new capacity during the early days of McGuinty, the impact of the great recession, etc. That kind of stop-go, pulled in every direction can't be great consistent long term policy-making (see for example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Providing_the_Balance_of_Power - that decisions in the early 90s in response to what was then a temporary dip in consumption lead to a shortfall a decade down the road)
AoD
Good summation.
I would add though that the partial move to privatize added needless complexity to bills and to how power is traded/bought/sold by Hydro One.
Sub metering also added needless billing and complexity at the multi-residential level. This I must confess is an idea I supported at one point, in service of greater conservation. However, in practice, it simply isn't working.
Its not achieving the level of reductions desired for a host of reasons, including limited control of structure/windows by tenants/condo unit owners; no control over the panel, no ability to plant trees outside etc; in other words it
shifted the burden of paying a portion of the bill to tenants/unit holders but without shifting the ability to conserve, beyond using LED light bulbs.
In effective.
Time shift pricing has also been a bust; this could work, in some measure, with larger differences between peak and off-peak. However, once again we have problems, as example many tenants still use laundry rooms which have fixed hours and fixed capacity, and as such you can't necessarily shift that use to early Sat. Morning or late Friday night.
Lastly there's matter of the ongoing debts of Ontario electricity sector tied to Darlington in particular.
****
If we wanted to invest the money to get this right...........
Here's where we go (in my opinion)
1) Re merge OPG and Hydro One
2) Eliminate the tradable electricity market all together; thus eliminating the global adjustment. Electricity could still be traded/bought/sold to bordering utilities but at fixed, predictable rates, no spot market.
3) Eliminate peak/off-peak pricing
4) Eliminate Sub metering
5) Merge Local distributors into the new Hydro One/OPG; but forbid them from owning street lights or non-electrical infrastructure; and mandate their cooperation with municipalities for streetlights providing any service/access to poles at cost.
6) Eliminate any mandate for profit throughout the publicly owned distribution/generation sector, with a mandate to recover costs and accrue a modest surplus to handle disasters etc.
7) Remove any excess debt from the new Electrical Company, and transfer that the public books.
8) Do not refurb any nuclear plants ( simply because its not cost-effective); map out a baseload strategy based on replacing nuclear with 45% renewable, 25% Nat. Gas, 30% conservation. The last target is actually very do-able with government legislation plus incentives, looking at a 20-year time horizon. Renewable would be 50% Quebec-supplied and 50% generated in province
Projected policy effects: Electricity marginally cheaper (7-15%), but one bill only, one-line item (generation and distribution as one cost), no adjustment, no tiers, no times.
Conservation investments:
Priority 1: Multi-residential buildings:
Replace surface asphalt parking with light-coloured interlocking pavers with quality shade trees in good planting conditions delivering shade to at least 70% of the lot and at least 70% of the building face at or below the 5th floor at maturity
Replace older windows with double-glazed or even triple, with high-efficiency rating
Heat transfers into building in summers often occur through the concrete slabs, consider paint/covering choices which reduce heat-transfer.
Consider use of sliding/double doors to balconies where practical in order to allow greater air circulation in summers.
Mandate one of :
Central (forced air) heat/air conditioning (where practical)
or
Require high-efficiency built-in, direct vented a/c a minimum of one per unit (more efficient than portables or conventional window units)
Mandate dark-sky friendly parking area lighting that focuses down (rather than spraying light everywhere) and uses LED lights.
Priority 2: Appliances/Electronics
Legislate that those items not meeting current ener-guide minimum ratings be made illegal, while moderate efficiency devices face a premium tax of 25% at point of purchase.
Priority 3: Publicly-owned Infrastructure, hospitals, rec. ctrs, schools etc.
Mandate 100% conversion to LED Lights
Mandate 100% conversion to High Efficiency Windows
Mandate Shaded, light-coloured surface parking (where this exists now)
Mandate 100% conversion of street lights to LED, dark-sky friendly design; same with lights in parks.
Multi-residential investment for public housing (same as above)
Priority 4: Private Property
Mandate conversion of Private parking lots to LED, dark-sky friendly lights; and to the light-coloured pavement and shade standards outlined for multi-res.
Mandate Light coloured roofing material for all non-green roof, commercial or residential
Mandate Green Roof wherever practical.
With a reasonable phase-in of 5-25 years depending on item, it should be easy to hit a 30% conservation target (per capita)
