Power Glut: Why Ontario Residents Pay For Costly Electricity They Don’t Need, And What To Do About It

Summary:
Page Title:Power Glut: Why Ontario Residents Pay For Costly Electricity They Don’t Need, And What To Do About It – C.D. Howe Institute
Article Title:Power Glut: Why Ontario Residents Pay For Costly Electricity They Don’t Need, And What To Do About It
URL:https://cdhowe.org/publication/power-glut-why-ontario-residents-pay-costly-electricity-they-dont-need-and-what-do-about-it-2/
Published Date:July 19, 2011
Accessed Date:February 15, 2025

After years of looming power shortages, Ontario faces a periodic problem of excess electricity supply. This costly oversupply, which the province must take under fixed-price contracts with generators, leads to higher electricity bills for consumers. In “Plugging into Savings: A New Incentive-Based Market Can Address Ontario’s Power-Surplus Problem,” authors Benjamin Dachis and Donald N. Dewees recommend a solution: a new market mechanism that would facilitate payments to generators, who operate under fixed-price contracts, to reduce output when doing so would save money for the system as a whole.

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