City Council says 'North Bay Hydro is not for sale'

The on-going issue revolving around North Bay Hydro was again revisited by City Council this week.

Council put forth a motion in respect to the electricity sector review that the province is doing, which was announced on April 13th, 2012, that is to consider the potential long and short-term financial savings associated with consolidation of Ontario's 76 Distribution Utilities.

The motion, ironically similar to the ONTC's red stop sign campaign, says that the North Bay Hydro distribution system is not for sale.

With the costs and infrastructure of Hydro under review at the provincial level, the mayor and councillors spoke of their concerns about the potential losses at the municipal branch of the utility.

Hydro rates, soaring with the implementation of a basic fee schedule, metered usage and the increased costs of green power initiatives, have begun to pile on costs at an alarming rate to homeowners monthly service bills.

The complex payment and service arrangement allows for enormous political jousting at numerous levels from favoritism to environmentalism and the issue itself is not a simple one.

Local councillors have blamed the high cost of subsidization green energies as the root of the issue of ballooning costs, however, the province points to this as a smaller influence.

Other members of council have pointed to the use of metering systems doubling the cost of power during peak times as being an even greater impact in the colder, more Northern cities of the province.

It is feared that the report will suggest the local North Bay Hydro Branch will be absorbed into the central utility, leaving the city with possible service issues.

Deputy Mayor Peter Chirico spoke of an increasing Global Adjustment Charge that is now a part of Hydro taking approximately 24 million dollars a year out of the city that wasn't present only a few years ago.

He says that green and nuclear power point to this fee as each other's fault in the increasing cost of electricity.

Chirico is hoping the review at hand is reviewing the inefficiencies of the 84 cents on the dollar that goes to the central Ontario Hydro and not the smaller portion that provides the local municipal service.

“That's what they have to review,” says Chirico, “not the 16 cents that we make as a profit in the City of North Bay.”

However, it is feared that the report is to justify the dismantling of the local North Bay Hydro, seeing it's services go to the provincial level and leaving the municipality with a lower standard of service.

When asked to comment on the issue, the Associate Press Secretary for the Office of the Premier responded via Twitter, saying that “merging the Ontario Power Authority and the Independent Electricity System Operator will save Ontario rate payers $25 million dollars per year and reduces duplication of services.”