Ontarians paying billions extra for electricity, auditor general finds

Ontario’s auditor general targeted the Wynne government in over a dozen areas ranging from smart meters to daycares and immunization in her annual report.

Bonnie Lysyk says the $1.9 billion smart meter program, which is twice the original estimated cost, has failed to meet targets for reducing peak electricity demand, hasn’t changed Ontarians’ consumption patterns and hasn’t affected hydro bills in a positive way.

“We found that, for the money spent, there were a number of objectives that have not been met,” she explained. “The meters have been installed and the technology is there but we think there are still things that need to be done to prove the investment was worth $2 billion.”

She estimated that customers are paying more than three times the market price for electricity – meaning ratepayers will pay $50 billion between 2006 and 2015 because of an extra charge on their electricity bills.

She added that the Ontario Energy Board needs to do more to justify the rates that gas companies are charging their customers.

Click on the below interactive map to see 2012 average daily electricity prices by provinces; data courtesy of the Canadian Electricity Association and Statistics Canada. Mobile viewers, click here.

On Infrastructure Ontario, Lysyk raised questions over the current Alternative Financing and Procurement (AFP) program, which partners private companies with public projects.

She expressed doubt over the financial efficiencies of the program, noting that private companies cost more and are higher risk.

Pointing out that 74 AFP projects came at an additional cost to taxpayers of nearly $8 billion, she recommended that Infrastructure Ontario revisit its model.

The AG also said that her report found the health ministry has no way of actually knowing how many Ontarians are immunized for diseases such as the flu and measles, or whether that $250 million program is even cost effective. She also noted that this lack of information means the ministry is unable to determine if they are able to prevent an outbreak.

She also raised a number of concerns over the inspection of daycares that are licensed by the province. Lysyk said her report found problems with licensing, inspections and making sure all of the requirements for a licence are in place before the daycare is opened.

She said that based on her review, she thinks a lot of daycares are problematic and that the education ministry needs to strengthen its inspection processes and enforcement actions to reduce serious occurrences at licensed daycares.

Questions were also raised over the province’s debt elimination plan.

Lysyk said she believes the provincial government needs to provide more information on how its debt elimination is going to happen.

“Ultimately the question of how much debt the province should carry and the strategies that would be used by the government to pay down its debt is one of government policy,” she said. “However, this should not prevent the government from providing information that promotes further understanding of the issue.”

The report showed that the debt continues to grow faster than the provincial economy and that by the time the annual deficit is eliminated by the government’s target of 2017-18, the net debt will stand at about $325 billion, which would be up from $267 billion at the end of March 2014.

Efficiencies at the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services as well as the province’s loan for the MaRS project were also under fire.

With files from The Canadian Press

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