{"id":6023,"date":"2015-04-08T14:17:30","date_gmt":"2015-04-08T21:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?page_id=6023"},"modified":"2015-06-04T12:37:21","modified_gmt":"2015-06-04T19:37:21","slug":"bills","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?page_id=6023","title":{"rendered":"Bills"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hydro One billing service ‘outrageously’ bad: Ombud<\/h2>\n
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By\u00a0Antonella Artuso<\/a>, Queen’s Park Bureau Chief<\/p>\n

Toronto\u00a0–\u00a0A special Ontario ombudsman\u2019s investigation into Hydro One uncovered stunning billing errors, \u201coutrageously\u201d bad customer service and an organization that misled even the electricity regulator on the extent of its problems.<\/p>\n

Andre Marin\u2019s probe of Hydro One, which culminated in the release Monday of his final report, In The Dark, was prompted by a deluge of public complaints that followed the implementation of a new billing and customer service system at the publicly-owned utility.<\/p>\n

Marin estimates that more than 100,000 Hydro One customers were ultimately impacted through overcharging, missing or multiple bills and an ineffective complaint system.<\/p>\n

Getting to the root of the problem with Hydro One was akin to trying to pin a kangaroo to a trampoline, Marin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo fix the customer service problems cost $88.3 million \u2014 almost half the price of the initial system,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a fiasco, it was a mess … that\u2019s eight times my budget to oversee all of government.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ombudsman refused to accept that the \u201cmind-boggling maladministration\u201d could be put down to just software programming or defective data.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather, its fatal flaw is a technocratic and inward-facing organizational culture that is completely out of step with public sector values,\u201d his report concluded.<\/p>\n

Marin claimed his office \u2014 as well as Hydro One\u2019s board of directors, the Minister of Energy Bob Chiarelli and the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) \u2014 were misled by Hydro One officials about the extent of the problem.<\/p>\n

He said it was unfortunate that the Ontario government, in its plan to sell off a majority stake of Hydro One to the private sector, also intends to remove his office\u2019s oversight of the utility while leaving the OEB as the go-to independent organization for public complaints.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the ones that blew the whistle on this,\u201d Marin said. \u201cI\u2019m the one who discovered that they were all misled.\u201d<\/p>\n

His office received 10,565 public complaints about Hydro One, more than in any other single investigation in its 40-year history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn one case, Hydro One took $10,000 from the bank account of a senior from Timmins, leaving him on the hook for overdraft charges \u2014 it took months before his bill was reduced to just $800,\u201d Marin said. \u201cIn another, it charged an Ottawa man $11,000 after his metre was changed and five years of electricity he had already paid for was added to his bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took him more than a year, 40 calls to the call centre, five complaints to managers and finally our office to get the mess sorted out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hydro One CEO Carmine Marcello said the organization made mistakes but has now begun or completed work on 64 of 65 recommendations made by Marin to prevent future problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, I wrote to my 1.3 million customers and I told them I was sorry … including the 95% who had never experienced the problem,\u201d Marcello said. \u201cWe let them down, we didn\u2019t treat them well, and we\u2019re sorry we put them through a difficult experience. It\u2019s unfortunate that they had no recourse but to go to the ombudsman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hydro One has been fixing the billing system and addressing technical issues, but failed to appreciate the impact on customers, he said.<\/p>\n

Marcello said his organization did not provide misleading information to oversight organizations, but several key people were asked to leave Hydro One.<\/p>\n

Marin said he does not believe that all problems have been fixed, and he continues to get complaints from customers.<\/p>\n

Chiarelli said he has sent a letter to the chair of Hydro One asking for a thorough analysis of the ombudsman\u2019s findings and any other issues around customer service.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a significant disappointment \u2014 it was a serious issue,\u201d Chiarelli said. \u201cHydro One has taken a lot of remedial action.\u201d<\/p>\n

HYDRO ONE\u2019S SHOCKING BILLS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A ski club received a $37,000 bill<\/strong> in error, complained and was sent a $36.7-million bill.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Sudbury man sent $19,152 bill<\/strong> in April 2014, after four-month delay to update system after meter replacement. After actual readings viewed, his bill was $74.<\/li>\n
  3. King Township woman, 84, whose average monthly bill was $200, stopped getting bills, then three bills covering the same time period arrived in one month, demanding $9,000 each. Her actual bill? $640.<\/li>\n
  4. An Inglewood man expected a final bill for a sold property to be under $100. He received a letter from a collections company on behalf of Hydro One saying he owed $18,000<\/strong>. He actually owed $56.35.<\/li>\n
  5. A Matheson man, after getting no Hydro One bills in the summer of 2013, was hit by six estimated bills and then the utility withdrew $1,959 from his bank account unexpectedly. Actual bill was $144.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    OMBUDSMAN TIPS TO HYDRO ONE TO STOP MESSING UP:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Put the customer first in all project planning phases.<\/li>\n
    2. Ensure number of customers impacted by systems issues tracked.<\/li>\n
    3. Adopt proactive, transparent, open and accountable approach.<\/li>\n
    4. Train staff before introducing initiatives that impact customers.<\/li>\n
    5. Provide timely and accurate scripts for call centre staff.<\/li>\n
    6. Tip for the Ontario government \u2014 Consider keeping oversight by Ontario ombudsman of Hydro One, even if restructured.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      antonella.artuso@sunmedia.ca<\/a><\/p>\n

      http:\/\/www.theenterprisebulletin.com\/2015\/05\/25\/ombudsman-to-release-report-on-hydro-one<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

      \u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n

      Ontario’s hydro situation getting worse: Expert<\/h2>\n

      BY SHAWN JEFFORDS<\/a>, TORONTO SUN<\/p>\n

      FIRST POSTED: SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2015 07:00 PM EDT<\/p>\n

      TORONTO\u00a0–\u00a0Energy analyst Tom Adams says Ontario\u2019s messy hydro situation isn\u2019t going to get better any time soon.<\/p>\n

      And last Monday\u2019s Ontario Energy Board announcement that peak rates will increase to 16.1 cents\/kWh from 14 cents\/kWh is the result of bad decision making for years, he said.<\/p>\n

      But the news gets worse, we haven\u2019t reached the peak when it comes to price increases, he said.<\/p>\n

      Adams expertise has been developed over the years working for Ontario Independent Electricity Market Operator Board of Directors and the Ontario Centre for Excellence for Energy Board of Management. He has also given expert testimony before legislative committees and regulatory tribunals delving into the energy sector across Canada.<\/p>\n

      Here are Adams thoughts on where we are in Ontario and how we got there:<\/p>\n

      On what\u2019s driving these increases:<\/b><\/p>\n

      \u201cAt very big picture level, if you look at increases since 2008, the big factors are; coal shut down, wind and solar and biomass, conservation, the cost of new gas plants, renegotiation of existing contracts for hydro-electric and old gas plants, export loses, pension costs and rising costs at OPG (Ontario Power Generation).\u201d<\/p>\n

      On the serious need to control prices and the challenge before the govern:<\/b><\/p>\n

      \u201cThat\u2019s an understatement. What we have here is a tremendous amount of cost momentum. There are a lot of locked-in costs that have not yet shown up on your bill but are coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

      On whether the government is doing enough to bring these costs under control:<\/b><\/p>\n

      \u201cThis file is on fire. This thing is way out of control. Electricity prices are skyrocketing. The government is making decisions every day that is making the situation worse, not better.\u201d<\/p>\n

      On how can individuals avoid paying more and conservation:<\/b><\/p>\n

      \u201cOne of the prime drivers that is causing rates to rise is falling demand, lower sales of electricity. Approximately $20 billion has to be collected this year, $21 (billion) next year, $22 (billion) the year after. But we have declining units of sales. So, the way the math works, conservation is driving up your rates.\u201d<\/p>\n

      On why hydro billing and prices are so complicated:<\/b><\/p>\n

      \u201cWhat we have here is a legacy of a lot of politicians meddling in a complex industrial sector … Ontario politicians just can\u2019t shut up about electricity. They have to talk about it four times a week in Question Period. The electricity file gets all of the calm, careful, thoughtful planning that Question Period can provide.\u201d<\/p>\n

      http:\/\/www.torontosun.com\/2015\/04\/25\/energy-expert-tom-adams-weighs-in-on-ontario-electricity-rates<\/a><\/p>\n

      \u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      www.brokenhydro.ca<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h2>\n

      <\/h2>\n

      Hydro must improve: ombud<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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      By\u00a0Luke Hendry<\/a>, The Intelligencer<\/p>\n

      \"Gary<\/p>\n
      \n

      Gary Lowe holds his Hydro One bills outside his home in Bayside east of Trenton, Ont. Wednesday, January 21, 2015. Though Hydro One and an inspector with the office of Ontario’s ombudsman say his nearly two-year customer-service battle has been resolved, Lowe said he may yet ask Measurement Canada to test his meter’s accuracy.<\/p>\n

      Ontario ombudsman Andr\u00e9 Marin and his staff continue to investigate Hydro One \u2013 and to encourage residents to report Hydro-related problems.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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      \u201cIt\u2019s the largest investigation we\u2019ve ever done, the most complaints we\u2019ve ever received,\u201d said Linda Williamson, Marin\u2019s communications director.<\/p>\n

      By mid-March, she said, staff had received more than 9,600 complaints compared to about 647 prior to Marin\u2019s announcement he was investigating.<\/p>\n

      \u201cThis huge spike in complaints did happen after the installation of smart meters and a new billing system,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

      Local resident Gary Lowe is far from alone in his beef about Hydro One\u2019s customer service or lack thereof.<\/p>\n

      \u201cWe are seeing people calling and complaining about the kind of communication and information they\u2019re getting from customer service agents at Hydro One, and not being able to resolve it,\u201d Williamson said.<\/p>\n

      \u201cHydro needs to remember that it\u2019s a public servant and that it has obligations to the public as a public servant.<\/p>\n

      \u201cThere\u2019s a large volume of complaints and there are consistent themes.\u201d<\/p>\n

      Improper billing practices and unsympathetic or disbelieving customer service workers are among those themes.<\/p>\n

      \u201cPeople received bills even after a property had burned down,\u201d Williamson said.<\/p>\n

      In another case described on the ombudsman\u2019s website, a pair of seniors living on disability pensions complained to Hydro One about three missing bills.<\/p>\n

      \u201cThis is what happens when your house gets repossessed,\u201d the website reports in describing the attitude of one customer service manager.<\/p>\n

      \u201cThe customers did their own research and determined that Hydro\u00a0One was confusing their property with another home \u2013 with the same\u00a0street\u00a0address but in a different city,\u201d the online report notes.<\/p>\n

      \u201cOmbudsman staff persuaded Hydro One to speak\u00a0with the couple and acknowledged the error by\u00a0crediting part of their bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

      Williamson said the office has logged at least 67 \u201cextreme\u201d cases \u2013 such as a customer receiving a single bill for $10,000 \u2013 but the ombud\u2019s staff have resolved more than 4,000 complaints.<\/p>\n

      \u201cThe ombudsman is an office of last resort,\u201d Williamson said.<\/p>\n

      Customers with concerns should first call Hydro One directly at 1-888-664-9376.<\/p>\n

      The ombudsman\u2019s office is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 1-800-263-1830, Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

      Marin is to release a report on his investigation during the first half of this year.<\/p>\n

      luke.hendry@sunmedia.ca<\/p>\n

      http:\/\/www.intelligencer.ca\/2015\/03\/22\/hydro-must-improve-ombud<\/a><\/p>\n

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       <\/p>\n

      \n

      Hydro One headache for Bayside man\u00a0
      \n<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
      By\u00a0Luke Hendry<\/a>, The Intelligencer<\/p>\n
      \n

      \"Gary<\/p>\n
      \n

      Gary Lowe holds his Hydro One bills outside his home in Bayside east of Trenton, Ont. Wednesday, January 21, 2015. His billing concerns with the electrical utility took nearly two years to resolve and required the intervention of staff of the Ontario ombudsman’s office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      BAYSIDE\u00a0–\u00a0All Gary Lowe wanted was to pay his electricity bill.<\/p>\n

      Instead, he fell into a nearly two-year customer-service nightmare that ended only after the involvement of the office of Ontario\u2019s ombudsman.<\/p>\n

      \u201cIt blows my mind,\u201d said Lowe, who lives in a single-storey home he estimates to be no larger than 600 sq. ft. He\u2019s also on a fixed income.<\/p>\n

      In 2014, he complained to Hydro One about problems with his bill, including a missing bill and what appeared to be abnormally high fees.<\/p>\n

      \u201cI pay every bill exactly as they come in, unless they tell me it\u2019s different,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

      He got a shock when he called Hydro One\u2019s customer service hotline.<\/p>\n

      \u201cWe sent it to your Owen Sound account,\u201d the customer service worker said of the missing bill.<\/p>\n

      \u201cI said, \u2018When did I move to Owen Sound?!\u2019\u201d said Lowe. \u201cI\u2019ve never been there in my friggin\u2019 life.\u201d<\/p>\n

      It would take months before Lowe would learn the reason: as Hydro One and an investigator for the ombudsman\u2019s office would later find, Hydro had mistakenly merged his account with that of another Gary Lowe in Owen Sound.<\/p>\n

      Adding further confusion to the matter was a sudden spike in the amount on the Bayside resident\u2019s bill.<\/p>\n

      Hydro One billed him for $169 in November 2013, then $250 in December. But the January 2014 bill was for $485.<\/p>\n

      Lowe said his heaters are never set to temperatures hotter than 20C. The rental home\u2019s basement is insulated and he insulated the roof himself.<\/p>\n

      He was convinced he was paying for two accounts: his own and that of his Owen Sound doppleganger.<\/p>\n

      He was livid when Hydro One continued to refer to his reputed second home and suggested he upgrade his appliances to reduce his electricity costs.<\/p>\n

      The situation worsened when Hydro One assigned new account numbers to customers and Lowe wound up paying into one account and being billed on another.<\/p>\n

      He made call after call in an attempt to resolve it, but got nowhere. The people charged with resolving customer complaints denied there was a problem, said Lowe.<\/p>\n

      He then filed a complaint with the ombudsman\u2019s office in July, pursuing it further in October.<\/p>\n

      \u201cOnce this was brought to our attention we investigated the issue,\u201d said Hydro One spokeswoman Nancy Shaddick, adding that investigation began last summer.<\/p>\n

      She acknowledged Hydro One\u2019s error in merging the two Lowes\u2019 accounts.<\/p>\n

      \u201cHydro One made a mistake … which is why we provided the service credits,\u201d she said. Lowe received $481.40 \u201cdue to the inconvenience,\u201d Shaddick said. The ombudsman\u2019s investigator told Lowe the credit is equal to a 20-month refund for the flat-rate portion of service charges for a medium-density home.<\/p>\n

      She said the bills of both Gary Lowes now bear their middle names to prevent further confusion and customer service workers have received further training.<\/p>\n

      \u201cThe human error with the account did not affect any billing issues,\u201d Shaddick said. \u201cThe bill he was receiving was for his meter on his property.<\/p>\n

      \u201cElectric heating can account for up to 60 per cent of a home\u2019s energy use in the winter,\u201d Shaddick said.<\/p>\n

      \u201cOne five-foot baseboard heater can cost up to $150 a month, depending on the temperature outside and the temperature you have it set at.\u201d<\/p>\n

      Both Hydro One and the ombudsman\u2019s office now consider the matter to be closed, said the ombudsman\u2019s communications director, Linda Williamson.<\/p>\n

      \u201cWe went to Hydro One and had them spell it out and we went over it all, too,\u201d Williamson said.<\/p>\n

      \u201cThey did make the initial error\u201d involving the other address, she said, but Hydro One fixed that problem in October 2014.<\/p>\n

      \u201cThere\u2019s no evidence he was billed for Owen Sound,\u201d Williamson said, though the ombudsman\u2019s investigation has found other customers who\u2019ve been billed incorrectly for two properties.<\/p>\n

      Lowe agreed the address and account number issues had been solved but said he remains skeptical about his high bill.<\/p>\n

      He said he may take the suggestion of the ombudsman\u2019s office and request Measurement Canada examine his hydro meter.<\/p>\n

      In the meantime, he said, he recommends other customers set their heaters to lower temperatures.<\/p>\n

      Lowe also remains frustrated by the effort required to resolve other issues.<\/p>\n

      \u201cThey have no customer service,\u201d he said of Hydro One. \u201cI couldn\u2019t get an answer no matter what I did and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to get any better.<\/p>\n

      \u201cIf the ombudsman wasn\u2019t involved, it would never have been straightened out. That\u2019s a fact,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

      \u201cIt\u2019s a shame that you\u2019ve got to get somebody from the government to try to intervene.\u201d<\/p>\n

      Lowe said he\u2019s still concerned about his ability to pay for electricity.<\/p>\n

      \u201cIf Ontario doesn\u2019t do something about Hydro, there\u2019s not going to be a factory left here, because a lot of people just can\u2019t afford the hydro.\u201d<\/p>\n

      luke.hendry@sunmedia.ca<\/p>\n

      http:\/\/www.intelligencer.ca\/2015\/03\/22\/hydro-one-headache-for-bayside-man<\/a><\/p>\n

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       <\/p>\n

      \n

      Ontarians paying $50 billion too much for electricity: Auditor<\/h2>\n<\/header>\n

      Posted:\u00a0Ontario<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Tags:\u00a0Auditor, Bonnie Lysyk, electricity, ontario, smart meters, spending<\/p>\n

      \n

      Opposition reaction to the Auditor General\u2019s scathing report was swift.<\/p>\n

      Opposition critics were very vocal Tuesday following the report\u2019s release, saying that the overlying issue is a lack of transparency by the Liberal government.<\/p>\n

      They say it failed to take previous reports seriously, especially when it came to a warning about green energy and how this would impact the smart meter program. back in 2011, the Auditor General said global adjustment would increase electricity costs. Tuesday, the report confirmed that consumers are paying billions of dollars more for electricity because of the flawed program.<\/p>\n

      PC finance critic Vic Fedeli: \u201cThis government spent $50 billion more on buying electricity than they sold it for<\/strong>. That\u2019s the bottom line. That\u2019s why your hydro rates have tripled<\/strong>. That\u2019s exactly what the auditor general told us in 2011. Why? Because they did no business plan for smart meters, they did no business plan for green energy and there\u2019s no transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n

      NDP Leader Andrea Horwath: \u201cThe Liberals also spent $2 billion on smart meters, double what they initially claimed. It hasn\u2019t reduced consumption. And it hasn\u2019t kept peoples bills down. And yet the minister is still saying that this morning, that it has achieved its goals, when we know it hasn\u2019t. And in fact, he just said it again in his press conference. In my books, that\u2019s not very smart.\u201d<\/p>\n

      The Auditor General was critical of how the government switched to time-of-use electricity pricing. She says it hasn\u2019t led to the government\u2019s electricity conservation goals being met, though the Liberals say her assessment is premature.<\/p>\n

      http:\/\/www.chch.com\/ontarians-paying-50-billion-much-electricity-auditor\/<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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       <\/p>\n

      Smart meters failing due to political decisions, auditor general finds (with\u00a0video)<\/span><\/h2>\n

      DAVID REEVELY<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0Published on: December 10, 2014 \u00a0\u00a0Last Updated: December 10, 2014 8:28 AM EDT<\/p>\n

      Ontario’s $2-billion smart meter program missed goals: Auditor<\/b><\/p>\n

      Smart electricity meters have cost double what they were supposed to and haven\u2019t saved Ontarians money by changing the times we use power, a major study by the provincial auditor general has found.<\/p>\n

      However, Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli responded harshly to the report, saying the auditor general and her staff don\u2019t understand the province\u2019s electricity system.<\/p>\n

      According to Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk, the big problem with the $2-billion project (aside from the fact it was supposed to cost $1 billion) is that politicians haven\u2019t insisted on charging much higher prices to people who use a lot of electricity at times of really high demand. That means we\u2019ve spent all that money for smart meters but aren\u2019t getting the benefits that tying prices to demand is supposed to bring.<\/p>\n

      The meters were \u201crolled out with aggressive targets\u00a0and tight timelines, without sufficient planning and\u00a0monitoring by the Ministry (of Energy),\u201d Lysyk reported Tuesday.<\/p>\n

      The ministry did no cost-benefit analysis before requiring Ontarians to use them, and underestimated the price of putting them in.\u00a0A lot of the extra costs went into Hydro One, which supplies electricity to most of rural Ontario. It turned out that putting in the infrastructure needed to pull in the more complicated data its 1.2 million smart meters produce cost a lot more than the government expected.<\/p>\n

      Worse, the devices\u00a0haven\u2019t done what they were supposed to. The point was to reduce Ontarians\u2019 use of electricity at peak times, when power costs the most to generate. But instead of cutting Ontario\u2019s peak power consumption by 2,700 megawatts by 2010, Lysyk found our use of electricity increased by 100 megawatts. So it\u2019s still around 25,000 megawatts at peak times.<\/p>\n

      The trouble\u00a0isn\u2019t with the meters themselves or the idea of \u201ctime-of-use pricing,\u201d but that the government hasn\u2019t had the nerve to use them the way they were intended\u00a0to be used: by\u00a0charging a big premium for using electricity when demand is high.<\/p>\n

      The finding\u00a0won\u2019t please critics of smart meters, who\u2019ve argued that charging people more for electricity is just a cash grab.<\/p>\n

      When the system kicked in back in 2006, Lysyk reported, it cost three times as much to use electricity at peak times (such as hot summer afternoons when businesses are open and air conditioners are running) compared with low-use times (such as the middle of the night). Government policy steadily reduced the difference, until now peak-time electricity costs less than double the night-time low price.<\/p>\n

      And the definition of \u201cpeak time\u201d doesn\u2019t match reality, Lysyk found. In 2010, the government started charging lower prices at 7 p.m. on weeknights instead of 9 p.m., even though the plain evidence is that demand for power is high then as people run appliances at home while many businesses are still using electricity, too.<\/p>\n

      Lysyk\u2019s job isn\u2019t to pin blame and she doesn\u2019t, but the directives come from the premier, the cabinet and the energy minister. That\u2019s been\u00a0Chiarelli, the MPP for Ottawa West-Nepean, since February 2013.<\/p>\n

      They didn\u2019t even save utilities money. Lysyk\u2019s team surveyed the power utilities such as\u00a0Hydro Ottawa and learned that 95 per cent of them say smart meters cost them more to deal with than old dumb ones.<\/p>\n

      To the extent the smart meters have worked, the government has thrown the benefits away, Lysyk found.<\/p>\n

      \u201cIn the decade since the Ontario\u00a0government announced Smart Metering, peak\u00a0demand has remained essentially unchanged, but\u00a0the Ministry has approved significant increases in\u00a0new power generation, such as renewable energy,\u00a0creating power surpluses in Ontario,\u201d Lysyk wrote. So now we\u2019re generating excess electricity that we often sell at a loss.<\/p>\n

      Chiarelli said\u00a0the auditor made fundamental mistakes. She used\u00a0estimates of some big costs instead of real final numbers, which meant she overstated the price of the meters by as much as $500 million, he said.<\/p>\n

      \u201cWhy are my numbers more credible than hers?\u201d Chiarelli asked\u00a0in a news conference after the audit report was released. \u201cFirst of all, the electricity system is very complex, it is very difficult to understand. I can tell you that some of the (energy ministry\u2019s) senior managers, in discussing some of these issues with some of the representatives of the office \u2014 from the auditor general\u2019s office \u2014 had the feeling that they didn\u2019t understand some of the elements of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

      Even if overall energy use has gone up, he said, as many as 1.5 million households have shifted the times they use power and that\u2019s saved customers $12 a year \u2014 $53 million provincewide \u2014 on raw electricity\u00a0prices. Beyond that, Chiarelli said, smart meters are an investment, a new technology that will allow more sophisticated\u00a0changes to how and how much Ontarians pay for power in the years to come.<\/p>\n

      Nevertheless, the ministry promised not to take on any more $2-billion projects without thinking them through. \u201cIn line with best practice, the Ministry will\u00a0ensure that the proper analysis is completed\u00a0ahead of implementing major initiatives,\u201d it said in its formal written reply, included in the report.<\/p>\n

      dreevely@ottawacitizen.com<\/a>
      \n      twitter.com\/davidreevely<\/a><\/p>\n

      http:\/\/ottawacitizen.com\/opinion\/columnists\/reevely-smart-meters-failing-due-to-dumb-decisions-auditor-general-finds<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

      \u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Hydro One billing service ‘outrageously’ bad: Ombud By\u00a0Antonella Artuso, Queen’s Park Bureau Chief Monday, May 25, 2015 5:15:39 EDT PM Toronto\u00a0–\u00a0A special Ontario ombudsman\u2019s investigation into Hydro One uncovered stunning billing errors, \u201coutrageously\u201d bad customer service and an organization that misled even the electricity regulator on the extent of its problems. Andre Marin\u2019s probe of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1697,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"page-nosidebar.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6023","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6023"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6618,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6023\/revisions\/6618"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}