Ontario's energy policy : what are the new government's plans and how will they impact generation adequacy?

Key market developments concerning the supply of electricity were identified in this paper, as well as details of legislation and commodity price changes. Major market issues such as volatile pricing, domestic supply shortfall and resource adequacy were examined. Factors contributing to current challenges were identified as being: limited generation investment; generation outages at time of system stress; volatile pricing to small consumers and price caps; lack of a conservation culture; and, cost overruns and growing debt. It was recommended that greater involvement of Local Distribution Companies (LDCs) in power procurement was desirable in order to address needs for stable default supplies as well as consolidation issues. Announcements of the Ontario Ministry of Energy were presented along with a series of questions posed by current market conditions. It was concluded that significant stakeholder input is desirable, as well as greater security in contracting entities, market structure and government resolve. tabs, figs