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There’s a war being waged in Ontario against home heating sources and it’s got to stop.
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Late last year, the Ford government made the right call in stating they would overturn a decision by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) to effectively discourage the attachment of new housing to the natural gas grid.
Typically, when a new housing development is planned, the units will be hooked up to natural gas when they are built. This requires a great deal of planning and building out of the natural gas infrastructure.
Payment for this infrastructure has customarily been made in small installments over a period of 40 years by the homeowner. This system worked well for decades and there was no reason to believe it would not work well for decades to come.
Natural gas is currently the most common source of heating in Ontario, used by 60% of households.
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Enter the green zealots. Their influence undoubtedly contributed to the OEB decision to change this approach and now require the developer to pay the entire cost of the attachment of the new housing to the gas grid up front. This increases the cost of a home by about $4,400.
This means the cost of homes will increase and there will be a disincentive to hook up the houses to natural gas. That’s what the activists want.
The OEB based their decision on the belief that natural gas was being phased out and the future would be more reliant on “green” energy sources such as wind and solar power. The OEB also recommended the installation of heat pumps. These pumps are expensive, require more electricity to operate, are difficult to install and have not been reliable in cold weather, among other drawbacks.
Ontario Environment Minister Todd McCarthy reacted quickly after the decision was announced just before Christmas. He said the government planned to overturn it. In February, the Ford government introduced legislation called the Keeping Energy Costs Down Act to accomplish this.
The legislation is also intended to encourage the OEB to undertake “broader engagement” in its consultations and invite participation from a wider range of affected groups, such as homebuilders and construction companies.
The climate extremists have been trying to get rid of natural gas for some time, despite the fact that natural gas is reliable, affordable and much cleaner than other fossil fuels.
What is ironic is that about 15 years ago, environmental groups were lauding clean natural gas as the ideal replacement for coal. Now that coal has been eliminated from Ontario’s energy mix, natural gas is suddenly the new villain.
Reliability and energy security have not been sufficiently considered in this conversation. We have seen in other countries – and even in some Canadian provinces such as Alberta – that an over-reliance on energy sources such as wind and solar can lead to shortages of power when it is most needed, such as in extremely cold weather.
It is also true that Ontario is currently a world leader with respect to sustainable power generation. With energy generated from hydroelectric, nuclear, wind and solar, biomass and natural gas, the system is already 90% emissions-free. The notion of eliminating such a reliable energy source as natural gas to obtain miniscule, if any, progress in terms of emissions reduction seems pointless.
The ideal system for the climate crowd would be to have no fossil fuels used anywhere, and to force that scenario on us all whether we like it or not.
If natural gas infrastructure is not built up-front to serve new housing developments, it will be very difficult to unscramble the omelet later if these households decide they want to use natural gas after all because the alternatives don’t work well.
Ontarians should be pleased that, through Ontario government legislation, their future energy choices are being left for them to make, not some climate groups that do not have their best interests at heart.
– Catherine Swift is the president of the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses of Canada. Learn more at www.ccmbc.ca.
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SWIFT: The war on natural gas in Ontario needs to stop
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27.03.2024
You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.
There’s a war being waged in Ontario against home heating sources and it’s got to stop.
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Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
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Late last year, the Ford government made the right call in stating they would overturn a decision by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) to effectively discourage the attachment of new housing to the natural gas grid.
Typically, when a new housing development is planned, the units will be hooked up to natural gas when they are built. This requires a great deal of planning and building out of the natural gas infrastructure.
Payment for this infrastructure has customarily been made in small installments over a period of 40 years by the homeowner. This system worked well for decades and there was no reason to believe it would not work well for decades to come.
Natural gas is currently the most common source of heating in Ontario, used by 60% of households.
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