'You can't cancel that'

Thursday, May 12, 2011

by SUSAN MANN

Reaction to the Ontario Conservative’s pre-election proposal to scrap the province’s Feed-in Tariff program is mixed with some groups crying foul while others aren’t alarmed by the announcement.

Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Bette Jean Crews says the Conservatives’ proposal to axe the program if they’re elected this fall will hurt farmers, rural residents and urban dwellers who produce the green energy at reasonable prices.

“It’s not a Cadillac price,” she says. “It is expensive when you start an initiative like this.”

An advisory committee is regularly reviewing the price paid to those who sign up to generate power under the province’s FIT and microFIT programs. Crews speculates that maybe what Conservative Leader Tim Hudak means when he says he’d scrap the program is that he’d review it “and make sure the price is in line with the cost.”

But Hudak, the MPP for Niagara West-Glanbrook, says that’s not what he meant. “We’re going to end the program when it comes to the FIT contracts and microFIT contracts.”

He says the Conservatives would honour existing contracts but not sign up any new ones. Hudak explains they’d end the programs because hydro bills are going through the roof for families, seniors and small businesses. “We just simply cannot afford to continue to pay these big subsidies that are driving up hydro bills.”

Renewable energy should be part of the province’s supply mix, he says. But “I’d take a different approach.”

When adding on new supply to the system, Hudak says “you should have a transparent, competitive bidding process that ensures you get the most affordable deal and the most modern technology.”

Crews says the federation is concerned about Hudak’s announcement “because OFA supported the Green Energy Act when that’s where society and the government said it wanted to go.”

Farmers who already have FIT or microFIT projects installed have contracts and “you can’t cancel that,” she says. “You can’t undo that. Those people have invested big dollars in that infrastructure on the contact that will allow their investment to be paid back to them.”

Jim Campbell, secretary for AGRIS Solar Co-operative, a farmer owned solar energy cooperative, says while Hudak says he’ll cancel the FIT program “he hasn’t said he’ll cancel existing contracts.”

The contracts the AGRIS co-op currently has aren’t with the Liberal government but the government of Ontario, he explains. “Those contracts would be valid even if a new government came into effect.”

Campbell says they’re supportive of the ongoing benefits of the FIT program. But “we’re not in a panic about Mr. Hudak’s announcement should he be elected because the contracts that we’ve got have been put in place.”

Kristopher Stevens, executive director of the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association, says “its really disappointing Mr. Hudak and the Conservatives have come out as anti-investor, anti-manufacturing, anti-First Nations, anti-farmer, anti-community and anti-environment and that they’re willing to undermine the prosperity of Ontario.”

The Conservatives’ announcement to kill the programs means millions being invested into manufacturing are going to be stranded if the party is elected, he says. “Anyone who doesn’t have a contract in hand is going to be left with nothing.”

Stevens says he has requested a meeting with the Conservatives’ energy committee but so far hasn’t heard back from it. The association works with local people, such as farmers, First Nations communities, and co-ops, to help them develop projects. BF