Electricity Exports Help Keep Ontario's Supply Strong
June 9, 2011 2:00 P.M.
Ontario's electricity market generated over $30 million in May through net exports by trading electricity with other states and provinces, bringing total net export revenues to over $136 million this year.
This revenue helps Ontario:
Keep costs down for families
Build and maintain a clean, reliable and modern electricity system
Ontario is part of an interconnected North American power grid that allows the province to buy and sell electricity with states and other provinces. Being interconnected gives the province the opportunity to export power when it's not needed by Ontario families and businesses and benefit from these revenues.
Since 2006, the electricity market has generated $1.5 billion through net exports, which is in stark contrast to 2002 and 2003 when Ontario paid $900 million to import power. Over the last year, the province exported power at positive prices 99 per cent of the time.
Ontario is replacing dirty, coal-fired plants with cleaner sources of power like wind, solar and bio-energy. It's part of the McGuinty government's plan to keep costs down for families today, while building a clean, modern and reliable electricity system for tomorrow.
Ontario's Green Energy Act will create 50,000 clean energy jobs by the end of 2012. Over 13,000 jobs have already been created as a result of our plan.
In May alone, the Ontario electricity market generated net export revenues of $31.3 million. This is based on export revenues of $39 million minus imports of $7.7 million.
Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator operates the wholesale electricity market, balancing supply and demand to ensure system reliability.
Ontario's high-voltage transmission grid is connected to Manitoba, Quebec, New York, Michigan and Minnesota.
Between 1995 and 2003, Ontario's electricity system lost 1,800 megawatts of power, the equivalent of Niagara Falls running dry.
Through the Ontario Clean Energy Benefit, the government is taking 10 per cent off electricity bills to help families, farms and small businesses manage the costs of turning on more clean power. As a result, the Ontario Energy Board announced electricity bills remained flat from May 1, 2010 to May 1, 2011.
As of May 1, Time-of-Use off-peak periods moved from 9 p.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, providing an extra 10 hours of electricity every week at the lowest available rate.
Learn more about Ontario's electricity imports and exports.
See how Ontario is building a cleaner, more reliable electricity system.
For media inquiries call:
Andrew Block, Minister's Office
andrew.block@ontario.ca
Paul Gerard, Communications Branch
paul.gerard@ontario.ca
For public inquiries call:
This document was published on June 09, 2011 and is provided for archival and research purposes.