Phasing out nat gas from Ontario grid would cost $3,300 per household per year
Episode Stats
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Summary
In this week's episode, we discuss the impact of the federal government's proposed ban on natural gas-fired electricity production in Alberta, and how that could impact the province's electricity bills. We also discuss the possibility of Ontario becoming a vocal ally with Alberta on this matter, and what that means for the rest of the country.
Transcript
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Well, it was the Canadians for affordable energy and they put out a report and it's
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basically using the numbers from the independent electric system operator in Ontario.
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It's what's called the Alberta electric system operator and just outlined some scenarios
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of what would happen if they had to stop using natural gas, which comes from Alberta, under
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the proposed so-called clean electricity regulations that were tabled earlier in the Alberta problem.
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So yeah, and Ontario only relies on about, unlike Alberta, they use natural gas to back
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So it only supplies about 10% of their overall electricity compared to more than 80% here
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And what they're saying is that they were forced to retire these gas fired plants early.
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It would result in about a 3.5% reduction in GDP, 60% increase in power bills.
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So that's where the 3,300 bucks per household per year comes from and possibly even tip the
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I noticed that I think they had about a $2 billion surplus this year and this would reduce government
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revenues anywhere like $4 or $5 billion a year after 2030.
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So outside of electrical generation, does this apply to household natural gas use as well
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Because that would impact your electric bill if you had to switch all that over as well.
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As far as I know, it was only with regards to operating the power grid.
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So whatever other electrical appliances and things that are used in there, it didn't specifically
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reference getting rid of natural gas stoves, for instance, like they're talking about doing
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in Quebec, I believe it's effective January 1st of this year.
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Okay, so I just think that's a great irony, guys, because what you could do then is, well,
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I want to save money on my electricity, so I'm going to take out my electric range and
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take out my electric heating system and bring in natural gas because it'll be cheaper than
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my electric bill now that they've gotten rid of gas-fired electricity.
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The shoe is about to drop, as Sean will tell you, in Alberta tomorrow.
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That $3,300 a year increase in Ontario, they only used 10% natural gas.
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So can you imagine that figure that's going to come down tomorrow for Alberta?
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Well, and the consequences, again, we start getting to the, where do we go with this?
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Is this, this is due to a national policy and provinces responding to it, but then electrical
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Do you think, Nigel, we might see Ontario finally becoming a bit more of a vocal ally with Alberta
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Well, yeah, but I mean, I didn't actually expect the Ontario government to be taking a logical
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point of view on some other matters that related to the, you know, how children are instructed
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in schools either, but it seems that they actually do react to, when they don't have an answer,
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they react to what the public is saying, and here we are with apparently a sound calculation
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that everybody's going to be paying $290 a month for power if they carry on with this.
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That's got to, that's got to send people back to the drawing board, I mean, it's one thing
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for Alberta to object to what the federal government is trying to pull, but when you've got Ontario
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saying, just a minute, maybe we should rethink this, maybe we should put this off for a period
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of time, then that rather undercuts what we were saying just a few moments ago about the
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prime minister being able to build a solid block against Alberta and Saskatchewan, you know,
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these people are not going to want to pay another $290 a month for their electricity.
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Lord knows, we certainly don't, so I think we've got a common interest there.
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Well, and again, I think, I think it's part of the problems among many that the federal liberals
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just can't seem to understand and grasp when they realize there's an affordability issue in Canada.
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They realize that they're losing in the polls because people can't afford their mortgages,
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their rent, their utilities and their food, but they can't bring themselves to relax their
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iron grip on their ideology that they have to stop these sorts of generation.
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Like Dave, as you're saying, your bill is already and the rest of us in the hundreds of dollars
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Like ideology of the common citizen goes out the window.
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So if you're worried about freezing to death or starving, I mean, or at least, you know,
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And speaking of the liberals, Sean just finished a story on Wilkinson announced the sort of
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the route to oil and gas emissions and didn't quite get up to Alberta's red line, but it
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So, I mean, we've been hearing that talk for quite a while too.
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They keep nudging around the edges of it and everything.
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Gilboa's sort of hinting at it as well, like, are we seeing the beginnings of them coming
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Well, Gilboa has wanted to put in the emissions cap now for weeks and he's been delayed.
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And part of the reason is because Premier Smith has essentially said that if they come through
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with an emissions cap while they're doing this roundtable talks that they're off.
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It's over though, you know, it sounds to me, she's pretty determined that if they do introduce
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these caps, that she'll walk away from these so-called consultations, which include the
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electricity regulations, by the way, that are supposed to be going on for the better part
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And Minister Zubola has said that he wants to unveil these caps by the time they head
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off to the COP 28 summit in Dubai in the beginning of December, which Premier Smith has also said
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that she will attend to unveil these carbon capture incentives, which are near and dear to her heart.
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So part of the package that Wilkinson introduced today made mention of carbon capture, but also
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said that the primary focus of government policy is going to be to remove those emissions before
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they even hit the atmosphere, which is code word for an emissions cap, which is actually spelled out
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in this policy document that he supposedly went to Paris to attend a critical minerals conference,
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but instead dropped the carbon management program, you know, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.
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But it says right in there, emissions cap on oil and gas in brackets pending.