The Rural Voice, 2002-02, Page 16t
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With the
4 tization of
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electrical utilities,
what lies ahead
for farmers?
By Mark Nonkes
there," said Paul Nairn, OFA member service
representative for Huron -Perth.
While Ontario is in the process of privatizing electricity,
OFA representatives are warning people not to sign
contracts. There are companies spreading absolute lies
about hydro's privatization and are trying to get people to
sign contracts, Nairn said.
When telephones were deregulated, some of the new
companies were short-lived while others charged
unreasonable rates, Girty said. ,People have to wait and see
which companies are offering the best value and which
ones will last.
"It's way too early. Not all the rules are in place," Girty
said.
"You don't know what is going to happen," Nairn
added.
Unlike the telephone deregulation, come May energy
cost will most likely be higher, Girty said. "At the end of
the day, the private sector is there, for one thing, to make
money."
The price of natural gas also plays a large role in
electricity costs. According to Girty, if natural gas prices
rise, so will electricity..
When people are choosing a company to buy energy
from, they have to consider factors like distribution costs,
if the contract can be cancelled by the company and what
source is the energy coming from, Nairn said.
Among those choices for some rural residents are
renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar
power.
S. Ziggy Kleinau of Lion's Head area has found a
way to avoid hydro bills altogether. The electricity
supply for his organic farm comes from a wind
turbine and solzr panel pad. He hasn't paid a hydro
bill in eight years.
Kleinau is the founder and co-ordinator for Citizens for
Renewal Energy which has about 1,000 members who use,
or are interested in, alternative forms of energy. He looks at
the privatization of Ontario Hydro as a good thing. Users
can choose from the pollution-generatingenergy
companies which have been supplying Ontario with
electricity or from environmentally friendly energy
providers, Kleinau said.
Currently, Canada lags behind the rest of the world in
producing wind -powered electricity. There are only two
provincially -owned windmills that are used for a mass
source of electricity in Ontario: one in Kincardine at the
Bruce Nuclear Plant, the other in Pickering.
With the deregulation of electrical power generation,
more wind turbines are expected to dot shorelines, where
wind speeds are more powerful. In Port Albert, north of
Goderich, a 290 -foot tower stands prominently on the
shores of Lake Huron. The structure was erected in early
November and is owned by a private company, Port Albert
Wind Farms.
The possibility for creating income from wind turbines
and other forms of energy is something OFA is looking
into. The OFA is in the early research stages of creating a
wind research farm in a high wind area, Girty said. The
OFA wind farm would pay private landowners for
installing wind turbines on their farms.
The wind farms could supply hundreds of homes with
Alittle more thought might be put into turning on the
nearest light bulb come May. With the
privatization of Ontario's hydro distribution
system, consumers could see a jump that could double
current electricity bills, said Lynn Girty, chairman of hydro
sub -committee for OFA.
The hike in prices will leave farmers and electricity
consumers reaching a little further into their pockets.
The old Ontario Hydro system, which ran up a large
debt, was poorly managed, maintenance was not kept up
and equipment became worn, Girty said.
The start-up costs for the new hydro services will likely
be 25 to 50 per cent higher but could be as much as double
to get rid of the initial debt, Girty said. After that point,
prices will hopefully stabilize or go down, he said.
OFA has been closely watching the process of
privatizing Ontario's hydro. Representatives, such as Girty,
have attended many of the hearings the regulatory bodies
have held to draw guidelines for the new private sector
hydro system.
"At some of the hearings, OFA was the only group
12 THE RURAL VOICE