After passage of the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, a politically-appointed Climate Action Council, with help from political appointees at the New York State Energy Research and Development
TORONTO Ontario residents may need to think twice before deciding to run their dishwasher or do a load of laundry as they wait out the COVID-19 pandemic at home. CTV News Toronto has learned the provincial government will not be offering off-peak hydro rates during the province’s second, month-long stay-at-home order – as it did in January. During the first stay-at-home order, Ontarians were free to use electricity without considering time-of-use or fixed tiered rates. The goal was to have people remaining indoors to stop the spread of COVID-19 during the provincewide lockdown and following stay-at-home order. Minister of Energy Greg Rickford said at the time the off-peak rates were introduced to “provide households, small businesses and farms with stable and predictable electricity bills when they need it most.”
The Ontario government is once again extending electricity rate relief for families, small businesses and farms.
Electricity prices will be held to the off-peak rate of 8.5 cents per kilowatt-hour until February 22.
The low rate is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for Time-Of-Use and tiered customers.
The relief has been continuously extended throughout the pandemic and will be automatically applied to your electricity bill.
Kenora-Rainy River MPP and Minister of Energy Greg Rickford says people continue to use more electricity because of the Stay-at-Home order and stresses stable and predictable bills are needed as we help stop the spread of COVID-19.
Hydro bills are about to get cheaper across Ontario to account for the lockdown
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As was the case during the first lockdown in the spring, the provincial government has decided to make hydro bills more affordable for people in Ontario now that residents are once again being asked to stay home as much as possible.
Premier Doug Ford and his team announced a stringent blanket shutdown for all regions of the province on Monday, which means more people will be using more of their electricity amid a season where hydro bills can be substantially higher than other times of the year.
WINGHAM, ONT. It appears Ontario will be home to the next “big thing” in nuclear energy. “Imagine that this field is going to become a world class showcase for small modular reactor technology,” says Ontario’s Minister of Energy Greg Rickford. Plans to build Canada’s first small modular reactor or SMR at the Darlington Nuclear Site, in the Durham Region, as early as 2028 were announced last month. Proponents of small modular reactors say, although they’ll produce less electricity, they’re quicker and cheaper to build than typical “baseload” nuclear reactors. They’re also small enough to be mobile, and power remote towns or massive mining projects. In the pursuit of limiting carbon emissions, the Canadian government launched their Small Modular Reactor Action Plan last week.