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TORONTO The McGuinty government continued moving the province toward private energy generation yesterday by awarding the bulk of 184 renewable energy contracts to private companies, says the Ontario Electricity Coalition.
We support creating green jobs and moving to cleaner energy sources, but see no justification for letting private, profit-driven corporations rake in all the green at the expense of local ratepayers, said spokesperson Bruno Silano. While a handful of contracts went to First Nations and communities, most of the new energy will be generated for profit at significantly higher cost.
Ontario’s economy was built on a foundation of public generation and transmission utilities that still operate in our communities, Silano said. Instead of moving us to private power generation, the McGuinty government should be building on our existing public infrastructure to convert to green energy at cost. As new private energy comes on line, rates are going to skyrocket.
The thousands of new jobs that come with green energy conversion are mostly found in manufacturing equipment and technologies, Silano noted, and would still be created by publicly-owned electrical utilities building renewable power generation.
We support the development of renewable energy sources. But handing power generation over to private corporations whose priority is generating profits is a betrayal of the public interest. Ontarians will pay dearly. This is a shift of public policy of historic proportions, he said.
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For more information, contact:
Bruno Silano, Ontario Electricity Coalition, 647-654-9084
