Deregulation: Buyer beware.Buyer beware. That is the message Paul Marleau Paul Marleau is a Canadian businessman and politician. He was a candidate for mayor of Greater Sudbury, Ontario in the 2003 municipal election, and is married to Diane Marleau, the Sudbury electoral district's Member of Parliament. , chairman of the Greater Sudbury Greater Sudbury (2006 census population 157,857) is a city in Northern Ontario, Canada. Greater Sudbury was created in 2001 by amalgamating the cities and towns of the former Regional Municipality of Sudbury, along with several previously unincorporated geographic townships. Utilities, told members of the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce on March 6 during a chamber luncheon. His session on the deregulation Deregulation The reduction or elimination of government power in a particular industry, usually enacted to create more competition within the industry. Notes: Traditional areas that have been deregulated are the telephone and airline industries. of the electricity industry and how it will impact business and consumers was a murky forecast suggesting people do their own homework on whether to lock into an energy rate through a retailer or take their chances on the open energy market which arrives May 1. Much of Marleau's speech was dedicated to outlining the utility's lean-and-mean cost-cutting measures in cutting 20 per cent of its labour force to prepare for deregulation in the marketplace and its economic development efforts to invest in a city-wide fibre optic network, which has netted roughly 2,000 jobs in the local call centre and telecommunications industry. Starting in May, electricity will be produced and supplied by a number of companies and sold by licensed retailers. To prepare for deregulation, Ontario Hydro Ontario Hydro was the official name from 1974 of the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario which was established in 1906 by the provincial Power Commission Act to build transmission lines to supply municipal utilities with electricity generated by private companies was split into two companies - Ontario Power Generation Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is a public company whose shares are wholly owned by the Government of Ontario. It is responsible for approximately 70% of the electricity generation in the province of Ontario, Canada [1]. , which operates some 70 power plants, and Hydro One Hydro One Incorporated delivers electricity across the Canadian province of Ontario. It is a Crown corporation wholly owned by the Government of Ontario. Hydro One traces its history to the early 20th century to the establishment of the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of , which operates the transmission lines. The Greater Sudbury Utilities will be the deliverers of electricity to 44,000 Sudbury homes, with Hydro One picking up about 26,000. Since the retail end is now privatized, electricity sales are conducted by homeowners entering into a contract with a provider selling a package. They can either lock into a price for a specified time period with a retailer, or stay with utilities like Sudbury's to deliver electricity and be subject to market forces. Currently, Marleau says the electricity rate with the utility is 4.1 cents per kilowatt hour, expected to jump up to 4.3 cents come May 1. Beyond that date, "as far as we know, we don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what's going to happen," Marleau says. It all depends on basic North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. supply and demand, assuming there is adequate supply and that the major U.S. energy companies do not engage in a bidding frenzy for cheap power that could send prices spiralling. upward, he says. "At this point, it's let the buyer beware," Marleau says. Marleau says under provincial energy regulations the utility is not allowed to counsel people on selecting a retailer, but can only provide the basic facts of deregulation. He advised people do their own research and check out consumer Web sites like Energy Probe. Marleau says the best safeguard to protect oneself from price hikes and wild fluctuations that resulted in chaos in California and Alberta is to lock their electricity price if they want that comfort level. |
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