In its December 19, 2019 decision in Toronto Hydro’s “Custom IR” rate application, the Ontario Energy Board (“OEB”) ruled that utilities wishing to include behind-the-meter storage in their regulated operations should seek policy changes in the OEB’s ongoing Distributed Energy Resources (DER) consultation.
In legislative committee hearings that were part of the fallout from Ontario’s 2010 gas plant scandal, one of the more charged — some might say naïve — observations was offered by an expert witness who, when asked for his opinion on remedying Ontario’s continuing electricity woes, recommended that politicians “swear a blood oath to not meddle in electricity policy.”
Canada and its provinces are once again going through growing pains that necessitate final resolution by the Supreme Court of Canada. The subject matter is climate change regulation and the federal government’s constitutional authority to set minimum standards for provincial carbon pricing through its Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act (the Act)[…]
State commissions are seeing more filings: rate cases, requests for pre-approvals, corporate restructurings. Commissions also are instigating proceedings themselves: carbon reduction options, transmission construction, and renewable energy. Staff sizes are dropping due to retirements and hiring freezes[…]
None of the additional facilities that are proposed to address the current shortfall in oil pipeline and rail capacity out of western Canada – pipeline expansions (Enbridge Line 3, TMX), a new pipeline (Keystone XL) and additional rail tanker cars – will be available in the short-term. Optimizing the use of existing capacity has, therefore, become all the more critical[…]
This Decision is in relation to the 1969 contract between Churchill Falls (Labrador) Corporation Limited (“CFL Co.”) and Hydro-Québec which set out the legal and financial framework for the construction and operation of the Upper Churchill hydroelectric plant on the Churchill River in Labrador. […]
The issue of the locational treatment of transmission line losses has a long history in Alberta. Indeed, when Alberta’s electric system was deregulated in 1995, a key principle for the new, open access transmission system, was that generators would pay charges or receive credits based on the location of supply to ensure maximum efficiency of the system[…]