OPEN LETTER

The Honourable Dalton McGuinty,
Premier of Ontario
Legislative Building
Queen’s Park
Toronto ON M7A 1A1

Dear Premier,

RE: OEB decision to deny approval for Toronto Hydro energy conservation programs

I am writing on behalf of the Low-Income Energy Network (LIEN) to share our serious concerns about the pullback on funding for energy efficiency and conservation programs in Ontario.

Low-income energy conservation programs play a vital role in assisting vulnerable consumers to lower their energy bills, maintain healthier and more affordable housing, and therefore reduce the risk of homelessness. These programs enable low-income consumers to participate in the “Culture of Conservation” to reduce energy use and related greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to climate change.

Recent decisions by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) have forced both electricity and natural gas distributors to restrict cost-effective conservation programs they offer to consumers. This is a great setback for consumers and the environment. It was also surprising since, in a Directive issued on July 5, 2010, the Minister of Energy urged the OEB (and the Ontario Power Authority) to take on an expanded policy-making role in conservation and consider increasing current conservation budgets for natural gas and electric utilities.

Ontario Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller also criticized the OEB for putting up barriers to increased energy conservation in his Annual Energy Conservation Progress Report – 2010 (Volume One), Managing a Complex Energy System, released last month. Miller says that the OEB has established rules that could hinder the Conservation and Demand Management (CDM) programs offered by the province’s electricity utilities. “The OEB has given utilities all of the responsibility but none of the freedom to modify or improve programs if necessary.”

Energy conservation is cheaper and more environmentally sound than building new power generation facilities. LIEN encourages the Premier and all Parties, as part of their election platforms, to commit to strong and robust low-income energy conservation programs in which vulnerable Ontarians can participate. Furthermore, we urge your government to issue a strong, clear Directive to the OEB, instructing them to approve all cost-effective energy conservation and efficiency programs that are proposed by local distribution companies. If legislative changes are necessary to ensure compliance with this Directive, we also urge you to make them.

We appreciate your urgent attention to this matter.

Sincerely,
Per: Low-Income Energy Network

Original signed by

Zee Bhanji
LIEN Coordinator

cc: Rosemarie Leclair, Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario Energy Board
Honourable Brad Duguid, Minister of Energy
Mike Schreiner, Leader, Green Party of Ontario
Andrea Horwath, Leader, Ontario New Democratic Party
Tim Hudak, Leader, Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
LIEN member organizations

Friday, April 1, 2011

(Toronto) The Low-Income Energy Network (LIEN) welcomes the long-awaited release of the Ontario Energy Board’s (OEB) customer service rules that are specifically designed to help financially-strapped low-income households maintain their residential electricity service.

The rules released this week are part of the OEB’s Low-Income Energy Assistance Program (LEAP) – a comprehensive plan consisting of: emergency relief for consumers in short-term payment crisis; targeted energy conservation and demand management programs to reduce energy consumption and costs, and the new flexible rules on matters such as security deposit and fee waivers, arrears payment plans and disconnection notice periods.

“This is good news for low-income consumers who struggle to pay for rent, food, transportation and their basic energy needs,” said Jennifer Lopinski, LIEN steering committee member and the Emergency Home Energy program administrator with A Place Called Home in the Municipality of Kawartha Lakes. “When attempting to resolve their electricity arrears, low-income consumers will have real options to reduce financial hardship. We’re also pleased that the OEB is consulting on implementing similar conditions of service rules for low-income natural gas customers.”

LIEN actively participated in the OEB’s proceeding which was initiated three years ago to develop the new customer service rules, and continues to advocate for the establishment of a permanent energy rate affordability program for low-income consumers that would proactively prevent households from falling into arrears.

The new low-income customer service rules will come into effect on October 1, 2011. For more details about the rules and eligibility, please see the OEB backgrounder at:
http://www.ontarioenergyboard.ca/OEB/_Documents/Press+Releases/bckgrndr_lowincome.pdf

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For further information:
Zee Bhanji, LIEN Coordinator
416-597-5855 ext. 5167
www.lowincomeenergy.ca

(Toronto) The Low-Income Energy Network (LIEN) is pleased that Energy and Infrastructure Minister Brad Duguid issued a letter yesterday to the Ontario Energy Board (OEB), requesting it to resume work on a province-wide strategy to help low-income consumers reduce their energy consumption and costs. The Minister also sent a companion letter to the Ontario Power Authority (OPA), directing it to roll out an electricity conservation and demand management program targeted specifically to low-income consumers.

 “This is good news for low-income consumers who have been waiting too long for a solution to energy poverty. They do not have the resources to pay for energy-savings retrofits, and are seriously challenged in meeting their basic energy needs, including healthy home temperatures during dangerously hot summer days and freezing winter nights,” said Theresa McClenaghan, Executive Director of the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA), a LIEN steering committee member.  “We’re also pleased that the OEB and OPA have been asked to coordinate on the delivery of the conservation programs by gas and electricity distributors.”

The OEB was planning to move forward with new support programs under their Low-Income Energy Program (LEAP) initiative by early 2010, but put those plans on hold last September pending expected ministerial direction.  LEAP had three components: more flexible customer service rules, emergency financial assistance, and conservation.  LIEN participated in the two LEAP implementation working groups and anticipates that the OEB will build on the guiding principles developed for effective programs. 

 “The need for an adequately funded emergency energy assistance program is critical to avoid homelessness for vulnerable households facing short-term financial crises”, said Jennifer Lopinski, LIEN steering committee member and the Emergency Home Energy program administrator with A Place Called Home in the Municipality of Kawartha Lakes.  “It’s encouraging that the Energy Minister has asked the OEB to consider increasing the original funding allocation for the assistance program previously announced under LEAP.”

 The new programs are expected to be in place by January 2011, but LIEN believes some protections, such as improved customer service rules and emergency assistance for the upcoming heating season, should be implemented earlier. 

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For further information:
Zee Bhanji, LIEN Coordinator
416-597-5855 ext. 5167
www.lowincomeenergy.ca

(Toronto) The Low-Income Energy Network (LIEN) is calling for a permanent energy rate affordability program for Ontario’s poorest households as members from across the province gather tomorrow for their annual conference.

“Low-income consumers have been waiting too long for an energy poverty solution. They do not have the resources to reduce their energy use or meet their basic energy needs, including healthy home temperatures during dangerously hot summer days and freezing winter nights,” said Theresa McClenaghan, Executive Director of the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA).  “We urge the Energy Minister to build on the significant progress made at the OEB’s LEAP Conservation Working Group and put into place a province-wide multi-fuel low-income conservation program.”

 In September 2009 the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure advised the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) that the provincial government was developing a new integrated program for low-income energy consumers.  The OEB was planning to move forward with new support programs under their Low-Income Energy Program (LEAP) initiative by early 2010, but put those plans on hold pending expected ministerial direction. 

 As energy costs continue to rise and looming summer temperatures threaten to impact the health of people who cannot afford to escape the heat, LIEN’s members are concerned that low-income consumers are still waiting for the sustainable supports needed to help manage their utility bills and pay for other basic essentials such as rent, food, transportation and medicine.  

 “The need for an effective, adequately funded emergency energy assistance program is critical to avoid homelessness for vulnerable households facing short-term financial crises”, said Jennifer Lopinski, the Emergency Home Energy program administrator with A Place Called Home in the Municipality of Kawartha Lakes.  “Many existing low-income financial assistance programs are not available province-wide and funds are often insufficient to meet the need.”

 With the province now taking the lead on developing an integrated low-income program, LIEN asks that the Energy Minister seriously review the need to include a low-income energy rate affordability program as an important component of a comprehensive approach to reducing energy poverty in Ontario.

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For further information:
Zee Bhanji, LIEN Coordinator
416-597-5855 ext. 5167
www.lowincomeenergy.ca
Low-income energy consumers will be available for comment.

For immediate release                                        June 3, 2009

Conditions have changed and the McGuinty government should support its own Green Energy Act by deciding against buying new nuclear reactors this summer, say thirteen prominent environmental organizations in an open letter to the Premier.

The groups say there has never been a better time not to buy a nuclear reactor, and they urge the Premier to forgo spending billions on new nuclear and instead put his Green Energy Act to work by replacing the aging Pickering B nuclear station with green energy.

“Nuclear costs are increasing, electricity demand is falling and the province has put in place the conditions for green power to play an increased role in Ontario’s electricity sector,” said Cherise Burda, Policy Director for the Pembina Institute. “It’s a perfect storm in favour of green power rather than nuclear.”

The groups say that the Premier should delay the decision to buy new reactors until the province’s plan for electricity is reviewed again in three years. Groups signing the letter include the Canadian Environmental Law Association, Council of Canadians, Ecojustice, Environmental Defence, Great Lakes United, Greenpeace, Low-Income Energy Network, Ontario Clean Air Alliance, Ontario Sustainable Energy Association, Pembina Institute, Sierra Club Ontario, Toronto Environmental Alliance and WWF-Canada.

“Investments in green energy and nuclear power are competing for limited space on the electricity grid of the future,” added Keith Stewart, Climate Change Campaign Manager for WWF-Canada. “The Green Energy Act points us toward a sustainable energy future, but to get there we now need to make more space for green power within the province’s electricity plan.”

The province’s current electricity plan caps the long-term development of new renewable power by reserving at least 50 per cent of the electricity grid for nuclear generation. For the Green Energy Act to be successful, say the groups, the government must remove the long-term cap on green power development.

The next and best opportunity to do this would be a decision to replace the Pickering B nuclear station with green energy when it reaches the end of its operational life beginning in 2013. The government is expected to decide Pickering B’s fate later this summer.

“New reactors are neither needed nor economical today. What is needed, however, is more space on the electricity grid for Green Energy Act to be put to work. Committing to replace Pickering with green power is the next positive step the government must take toward expanding green energy and jobs,” said Shawn-Patrick Stensil, Energy and Climate Campaigner for Greenpeace.

The groups highlighted the assumptions used by the Ontario Power Authority in 2005 to limit green energy and plan for the expansion of nuclear generation that are no longer valid in 2009. The expansion of nuclear power should be reconsidered because:

• Electricity demand has continued to fall since 2005, eliminating the need for additional reactors.

• Nuclear costs are more than double what they were estimated to be in 2005 and nuclear vendors are unwilling to assume the risks of cost over-runs.

• The Independent Electricity System Operator has warned that excess and inflexible nuclear supply is a threat to system stability.

• The passage of the Green Energy Act creates the conditions for green power to thrive if green power is provided additional space on the electricity grid.

Last September, Minister Smitherman directed the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) to revise its targets for green power and conservation. The OPA is expected to submit its revised plan later this summer, after assessing the impact of the Green Energy Act.

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Editors note: The letter to Premier McGuinty and a related backgrounder are available at www.renewableisdoable.ca

For more information, contact:

Cherise Burda, Ontario Policy Director, Pembina Institute: (416) 824-0256

Keith Stewart, Climate Change Campaign Manager, WWF-Canada: (416) 985-5936

Shawn-Patrick Stensil, Energy and Climate Change Campaigner, Greenpeace-Canada: (416) 884-7053

Jack Gibbons, Chair, Ontario Clean Air Alliance: (416) 926-1907 ext. 240

Theresa McClenaghan, Executive Director, Canadian Environmental Law Association: (416) 960-2284 ext. 219

Hugh Wilkins, Coordinating Lawyer, Ecojustice Canada: (416) 368-7533 ext. 34

Dan McDermott, Sierra Club Ontario: (416) 960-9606

For immediate release                                        March 10, 2009

 TORONTO – The Low-Income Energy Network today commended the Ontario Energy Board for establishing the new Low-Income Energy Assistance Program (LEAP) and recognizing the needs of low-income energy consumers in Ontario. LIEN was responding to an OEB report released today following consultations held last fall.

The OEB instituted its consultation on low-income energy issues after LIEN secured a ruling from Divisional Court which found that the OEB has the jurisdiction to take affordability into account as part of its statutory mandate to set just and reasonable rates. This sets an important context for future proceedings before the OEB and for the successful operation of LEAP.

“LIEN is pleased that the OEB has recognized that energy poverty is an important issue requiring urgent action,” said Sarah Blackstock, Research and Policy Analyst with the Income Security Advocacy Centre, a founding LIEN member. “And that the OEB will target significant funds to improve energy security in the province for the most financially vulnerable households.”

“We have been advocating for a comprehensive energy poverty strategy for Ontario since LIEN’s inception in 2004,” noted Theresa McClenaghan, Executive Director of the Canadian Environmental Law Association, another founding member of LIEN. “The OEB’s report recognizes that a comprehensive approach is required and puts several necessary building blocks in place.”

The LEAP emergency energy fund totalling about $5 million annually will be available year round on a consistent basis across the province, and will be provided by both electricity and gas energy providers together with social service agencies in each community. This will ensure that the program is available to low-income energy consumers in need all across Ontario.

Despite these improvements, the OEB declined to provide the permanent energy rate assistance program for low-income consumers that LIEN had recommended. The Board did recognize that LEAP will not in itself address broader problems of energy poverty. “We still have a long way to go to ensure that that all Ontarians have access to green, affordable energy, and we will continue to engage in broader discussions with the Ontario government, the Board and others in this respect going forward,” said Blackstock.

Low-income consumers have difficulty accessing energy conservation and demand management programs, and the OEB report noted that there is a need for those programs to be targeted to low-income consumers. “LIEN looks forward to providing input as these new programs are designed,” said McClenaghan. “Conservation programs are important to ensure low-income consumers can both reduce energy use and participate in the culture of conservation in the province.”

An area of special concern to low-income consumers is that of terms of service imposed by energy providers on their customers. “The impacts of security deposits, disconnection and reconnection fees, late payment charges, imposition of smart meters and much else can be very devastating for individual families in need”, stated Mary Todorow, Research/Policy Analyst with the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, another LIEN founding member. “The Board has signalled significant improvements to these terms which would result in alleviating some real hardship.”

“We are also pleased that the Board is putting a strong emphasis on improving outreach and education, especially around the LEAP program. This has been a real deficiency in the available programs to date,” noted Todorow, “with uneven access to programs and to information about programs.”

Equitable access to basic energy needs is fundamental to families’ and individuals’ well being. LIEN is, therefore, very happy to note that the Board report indicates that the new LEAP program should be fully in place by November 2009, the next heating season in Ontario.

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For more information:

 Theresa McClenaghan, Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA)

416-960-2284 ext. 219

Sarah Blackstock, Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC)

416-523-5228 (cell)

Click on the following links to view the various OEB reports laying out the groundwork for a comprehensive assistance program for low-income energy consumers:

OEB media release: http://www.oeb.gov.on.ca/OEB/_Documents/Press+Releases/press_release_BoardReport_20090310.pdf

Board cover letter: http://www.oeb.gov.on.ca/OEB/_Documents/EB-2008-0150/LEAP_CODE_covltr_20090310.pdf

Report of the Board: http://www.oeb.gov.on.ca/OEB/_Documents/EB-2008-0150/Board_Report_LEAP_20090310.pdf

Appendix A - Staff Report to the Board: http://www.oeb.gov.on.ca/OEB/_Documents/EB-2008-0150/AppendixA_StaffReport_20090310.pdf

The province’s poorest households, struggling to pay for their housing, food, transportation, medicine and other basic necessities, simply do not have the money to invest in effective measures for deep energy savings, such as weatherization, insulation, and energy efficient heating equipment and appliances.  Low-income tenants face additional barriers to conserving energy since they depend on landlords taking initiatives to retrofit their buildings, for example, by replacing old fridges with energy efficient models.

“We anticipate that the Green Energy Act can make real progress on conservation programs targeted to low-income consumers.  Programs to date have been limited to pilots, involved short-term funding commitments or have focused on less extensive measures such as low-flow showerheads, aerators, pipe wrap, programmable thermostats and CFL bulbs,” said Theresa McClenaghan, Executive Director of the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) and a LIEN steering committee member. “Reduction in energy consumption can make bills more affordable. However, for significant impact for low-income consumers and the environment, we need permanent, adequately funded, fuel-neutral programs with a wide suite of measures available province-wide that are tailored to homeowners, tenants in private rental housing and tenants in social housing.”

“Equitable access to energy conservation programs is the foundation of our comprehensive strategy to reduce energy poverty in Ontario,” said Zee Bhanji, LIEN’s Coordinator, “But conservation programs alone are not the solution to affordable energy for low-income consumers. They must be offered in tandem with a low-income energy rate assistance program.”

LIEN is participating in the Ontario Energy Board’s current consultation on issues affecting low-income consumers and recommending that the Board establish a ratepayer-funded energy affordability program.

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For further information:

Zee Bhanji, Low-Income Energy Network

416-597-5855 ext. 5167

The Low-Income Energy Network (LIEN)’s representatives Mary Truemner, Acting Director of Legal Services with the legal aid clinic the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, and co-counsel Paul Manning of Willms & Shier Environmental Lawyers LLP were pleased that the Court declared that “to further the objective of protecting ‘the interests of consumers’ this could mean taking into account income levels and pricing to achieve the delivery of affordable energy to low income consumers …”.  They were cautious, however, in responding to the Court’s determinations.

“While the Court ruled the OEB has jurisdiction, they did not also determine that the Board must exercise their discretion to set affordable rates for low-income consumers,” said Mary Truemner. “It is for this reason that we urge the Minister of Energy to issue a directive that the Ontario Energy Board must design a rate affordability program to minimize the effects of rising energy costs on low-income Ontarians facing choices between heating, eating and paying the rent.  The Court noted that “the Minister has not issued any policy statement directing the board to base rates on considerations of the ability to pay.”

The Income Security Advocacy Centre, a LIEN member and legal aid clinic, is asking that the government address energy poverty in its Poverty Reduction Strategy.

For more information:

Mary Truemner, ACTO, 416-597-5855 ext. 5163, cell: 416-996-1021
(Toll free in Ontario: 1-866-245-4182 ext. 5163)

In April 2007, the OEB released a decision that it had no jurisdiction to implement rate affordability programs for low-income residential consumers. The Board decision was not unanimous. In a strongly worded dissent, OEB Vice Chair Gordon Kaiser argued, “I believe the Act gives the Ontario Energy Board broad powers and discretion to consider issues of public policy and the necessary jurisdiction to enact low-income rates.”  Mr. Kaiser continued, “Put simply, just and reasonable rates do not result from the application of a purely mechanical process of rate review and design.”

LIEN is appealing the OEB’s decision to Divisional Court because a permanent rate assistance program is a crucial component of its strategy to address energy poverty in Ontario.

LIEN’s representatives Mary Truemner, Acting Director of Legal Services with the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, and co-counsel Paul Manning of Willms & Shier Environmental Lawyers LLP said, “Low-income consumers struggle to manage their energy bills and pay for other essentials such as rent, food, transportation and medicine. The OEB should take this daily reality into account in order to set rates that are reasonable and just .

“We are hoping to convince the Court that the OEB is failing to protect the interests of low-income consumers whose only access to the vital service of energy is through a narrowly regulated utility currently allowed to set inequitable rates.”

For more information:

Mary Truemner, ACTO, 416-597-5855 ext. 5163
(Toll free in Ontario: 1-866-245-4182 ext. 5163)

“If LIEN does not appeal this decision, the OEB will continue to fix rates without assessing whether they are affordable to low-income consumers,” says Paul Manning, a lawyer with Willms & Shier Environmental Lawyers LLP who argued LIEN’s case for a rate affordability program at the Board.

“We need a permanent rate assistance program in place for Ontario’s low-income consumers who are vulnerable to increases in shelter and utility costs and may be forced to make difficult choices between heating, eating and paying for their housing,” says Mary Truemner, a member of the LIEN steering committee and Staff Lawyer for the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO).

LIEN has also asked Ontario’s Energy Minister to issue a directive to the OEB to hold a generic hearing on the impact of energy prices on low-income and vulnerable consumers. LIEN wants the OEB at such a generic hearing to consider and implement solutions including low-income rate assistance. The Quebec government issued a similar directive in August 2006 to the Régie de l’énergie (Quebec’s OEB equivalent).
For more information:

Mary Truemner, Staff Lawyer, ACTO
416-597-5855 x 5163