Ontario Energy Policy Change

an Outdated Energy Policy
in Ontario and Canada

The No Fun Fact: the Ford Ontario Government forces all Ontario Utility Companies (like Toronto Hydro) to annually seize any monies owed to you, along with the electricity you generated for the grid (Toronto Hydro); over and above the electricity you personally used just to live your life or run your business...

This net metering policy was signed in 2018 for the same reason and with the same blunt hammer approach as when they shut down OSAP in 2026; to stop cold: blatant and very expensive fraud.

The Retrofit solar fraud from 2018 has long passed, but over the intervening years, the unintended consequences of the 2018 policy now just kills incentive and has impeded an incalculable amount of investment and development in net metered "micro" solar and wind production (see where Canada ranks on the chart below).

This page is about Subsection 8 of Ontario Regulation 541/05 Net Metering - an existing Regulation that Ford quietly passed in 2018 that still continues to penalize anyone in Ontario who generate more energy than they consume; people who silently contribute electricity during peak heat waves when all the air conditioners are powered on...

The Ontario Government has put us years behind the rest of the world in the deployment of modern Hybrid Energy Capture Technologies; networked Solar, Wind, Batteries & Natural Gas. This one Policy holds everyone back.

A true fact; when you intentionally build any “Energy Capture System” in Ontario to conserve and deliberately use less power than you create; all the extra power and the money Credited to your Hydro Bills are stolen by the Ford Government every year. Seriously… I didn’t believe it at first...

Most people in Canada do not own any kind of Hybrid Energy Capture System in the first place, so they don't even know about this old Ford Policy and there are very few politicians who know or care about this old Policy… to then be accountable, go the distance, and change or delete it.

Meanwhile; Energy Capture Technologies have improved massively since 2018, and this fact can’t be ignored; of just how fast and how far this and all Technology has meaningfully changed and improved over the intervening years - it is staggering. (see the YouTube References below).

If our human experience were ideal; every household, every building would have some form of current energy generation & capture technology baked into each structure as a default building code. Portable solar, wind and battery technology is available now, but Ontario and Canada are nowhere near to the “ideal” of enabling built in Energy Independence for the Individual and toward a more redundant Diversified, Hybrid Grid.

Please consider my own experience below, and then multiply this experience by what could be thousands or millions of households in Ontario and Canada as a whole. Imagine instead of our current reality, there was zero Government interference and people realized that they have a variety of options to take up their own action and significantly lower their ever increasing energy costs - right now - one that can reliably last for many years, and one they can manage from anywhere with an app on their phone or watch.

Hybrid systems are totally doable and obvious; once you install and run it… you can’t "unsee it".

Technically and practically; my solar installation consistently generates 8.25 megawatt-hours of electricity every year, it has a predictable, self-sustaining, seasonal cycle (see app screen shot below). I build up Credits on my Bills during the summer when the sun is high (and my panels generate more electricity than I need), and then I consistently draw those Credits down through the darker winter months. This reliable pattern repeats year after year. Nothing is broken. Nothing needs to be changed. It is a self sustaining solar energy system working exactly as designed...

But then Toronto Hydro has forced me to learn about this 2018 Ford Government Net Metering Policy, one that was introduced to shut down a then valid problem that does not exist anymore, and was never mentioned while I was building my solar array in 2019 (see below)...

Why So Few People Challenge their Status Quo

My situation is unusual. Only 2% of Toronto Hydro customers own solar or wind generating systems in the first place. Consequently, there is no public pressure to question what happens to those Credits when they expire and helps explain why government problems can remain largely invisible to most for a very long time - but there is a very real hidden "opportunity cost" to the Canadian grid infrastructure and it’s important future.

Ontario's outdated Regulatory system can therefore persist simply because relatively few people encounter its consequences closely enough and to further have the motivational energy to challenge Toronto Hydro, the Ontario Energy Board and the Provincial Government; just to change or delete one policy that is so obviously dysfunctional to the big picture of home energy in Canada...

Canada Needs a Rational Hybrid Energy Strategy.

Finally, this discussion should not be reduced to solar versus natural gas, or one technology versus another. Canada needs the collective wisdom to develop a practical Hybrid Energy Strategy.

Heat pumps can work extremely well during the spring, summer and fall, but during the darkest and coldest months of a Canadian winter, high-efficiency natural-gas furnaces remain extremely effective at providing reliable distributed energy as heat.

The same principle applies to electricity generation: Ontario should use every practical technology available to improve reliability, affordability and energy resilience with redundancy.

In Ontario, it starts by deleting an outdated Policy.

The goal should not be technological purity. The goal should be a modern, resilient and economically sustainable energy system in which individuals, businesses and government can all contribute meaningfully toward a mutually beneficial outcome:

Energy Independence, Energy Sovereignty, and the Long Term Multi Generational Survival, of our kids...

a Rational Hybrid Energy Strategy

Canada Needs to Stop Holding Its Energy Future Back

Ontario and Canada as a whole, has fallen far behind much of the world in deploying modern energy technologies.

While countries like China are adding enormous amounts of renewable generation - reportedly expanding by an amount comparable to Germany's entire grid every year, Canada remains constrained by short-sighted politics and outdated Policies that directly discourage everyone from investing in private energy production.

In Australia there is now free electricity in some areas as there is so much solar generation. There are many days where the grid is running at about 80% of supply from wind and solar during the day. There has been a boom in home batteries to soak up excess solar. Installation rates of wind and solar in Texas is second only to China. All across the world the transition to non fossil fuel based electricity is underway and it won't be turned back.

The problem is no longer simply a lack of affordable technology. Much of the technology we need has existed and improved over the years. The bigger problem is Government Policy, Regulatory delay, and a complete lack of urgency while extreme storms, flooding and other climate-related pressures continue to incrementally increase all over the world. The problem is real.

Change should have happened long ago. Yet, based on the explanations I have repeatedly received, meaningful change ultimately appears to require direct action from the Ontario Provincial Government and specifically: Doug Ford himself. The people who run Toronto Hydro and the Ontario Energy Board - from the President on down - seem to be completely incapable of any kind of change to the Government's Policy.

Standardize Energy Integration

Solar panels, wind generation, batteries, smart inverters, heat pumps, EV chargers and modern net-metering equipment should become standard components of new-home construction and major renovations. It is now possible to use an EV's battery to back up and power your whole house. Apple is developing sophisticated Connected Home technologies.

Plumbing and HVAC are already treated as fundamental and critical elements of modern Canadian housing. Distributed energy infrastructure should be treated exactly the same way.

New buildings should be designed from their beginning with the capacity to:

- Generate electricity;
- Store electricity;
- Manage electricity intelligently;
- Use energy efficiently; and
- Contribute electricity back to the grid.

This would make energy production and management part of the basic architecture of any building rather than an expensive afterthought or one that creates more Government debt.

Replace the Outdated 2018 Policy with Equal-Parity Billing

Ontario should eliminate the outdated financial restrictions created by the existing system and replace them with Equal-Parity Billing.

The principle is simple:

If a customer buys electricity from the grid at a publicly posted rate, electricity that same customer supplies back to the grid should receive the same publicly posted rate.

- No complicated formulas.
- No arbitrary credit limits.
- No expiring credits.
- No hidden clawbacks.
- No exceptions ! None.
- Trusted by all; because it is so clearly Transparent.

One unit of electricity should have the same transparent value regardless of which direction it flows.

A system this simple would be easy for ordinary consumers to understand, difficult to manipulate through complicated rules, and capable of creating a direct financial incentive for private individual investment.

Most importantly, it would give individuals greater autonomy over their own energy costs.

Teach Energy Consumers to become Energy Producers

Government should remove unnecessary financial barriers to personal micro energy generation - including all taxation that discourages small-scale generation and to instead encourage micro-generation, energy efficiency and storage through modern building standards.

The objective is not to create yet another government subsidy program. It is to remove the Policy barriers that prevent Canadians from investing their own money in their own energy infrastructure.

Thousands (and eventually millions) of individually owned solar, wind, battery and efficiency systems can collectively provide a significant new layer of distributed capacity. During extreme weather and periods of peak demand, that decentralized capacity could help reduce the pressure on our centralized infrastructure and provide additional resilience and redundancy.

Energy Independence Starts at Home

Policy reform also needs to be accompanied by Public Education, inspired in public spaces like the Ontario Science Center.

Canadians will learn and understand how modern energy technologies can reduce household costs while simultaneously contributing to a stronger and more resilient shared electricity system.

The goal should be straightforward: Give Canadians the autonomous ability to control and to reduce their ongoing utility costs to become active participants in building future energy systems of today and tomorrow.

Government could just be a referee that creates simple, predictable and broadly accessible policies that enable millions of individual investments to build energy capacity from the ground up.

That means less dependence on centralized infrastructure, greater redundancy and resilience, increased private investment, and ultimately greater Canadian energy independence and sovereignty. 🇨🇦

Solar generation is becoming ever more efficient. Batteries are becoming ever more capable; EVs are now able to be used to back up your home in an outage. Smart inverters, energy-management systems, heat pumps and EV infrastructure is becoming increasingly integrated and accessible by just an App or Widget on a basic mobile phone.

The opportunity is no longer theoretical.; when you clearly see how these technologies work together, you can't unsee their many possibilities and how the future of energy is relentlessly moving forward - with and mostly without us...

Politicians need to stop Government from always being in the way with outdated Policies and Regulations ! People will make do for themselves, but only when the rules are so clearly fair, that are unable to be “gamed” by the few… and so; trusted.