Law Reform and Advocacy
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Electricity Rate Increases

In response to Ontario's energy supply/demand crisis, the Liberal government announced on October 30, 2003 that it was abandoning the 4.3 cents per kWh rate cap freeze put into place on December 1, 2002 by the former Conservative government. Instead, it was moving to an electricity price regime that "better reflects the true cost of electricity".

The two-tiered electricity prices under the Regulated Price Plan (RPP) are announced every six months (and go into effect May 1st and November 1st).  The RPP is based on an updated Ontario Energy Board (OEB) forecast and any difference in the amount consumers paid for electricity and the amount paid to generators. For residential consumers, the monthly threshold for the lower price is set at 600 kWh during the summer season (May to October) and at 1,000 kWh for the winter season (November to April).

ACTO, the Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC) and the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) joined with other advocates and environmentalists to form the Low-Income Energy Network (LIEN), to lobby for a plan to protect low-income electricity consumers who are disproportionately affected by increases in energy costs. LIEN's approach to making energy more affordable for low-income consumers consists of:

  1. A province-wide, targeted low-income energy efficiency/conservation program, at no cost to program recipients and with as extensive measures as practicable to provide deep reductions in energy use
  2. Low-income rate assistance
  3. Extensive consumer education about energy conservation and available programs, and
  4. Adequately funded emergency energy assistance to help low-income households in crisis