National Wind Watch: Wind Energy News » Hudak looks at rewiring Ontario’s electricity

TORONTO – A Tim Hudak government would completely rewire the province’s electricity system.

On Tuesday, the PC leader released Paths to Prosperity: Affordable Energy, a plan that would see Ontario Power Generation and Hydro One opened to investors – first major Ontario pensions and then a public offering.

The Tories would also end the Liberal government’s Feed-In Tariff (FIT) program that guarantees above-average returns for solar and wind energy manufacturers, subjecting those forms of power to local approval and competitive bidding.

Subsidies for electric cars and charging stations would end as they’re currently helping the well off, Hudak said.

An industrial hydro rate would protect manufacturing jobs from rate spikes.

Hudak said it’s a “bold” new direction for energy that moves away from the current practice of treating electricity as a play thing for social engineers.

“We need action in our province to reverse a decline in our economy and to open us up for jobs again,” Hudak said. “And a primary way to do so – refocusing energy policy as an economic fundamental.”

The current policies, especially the reliance on green power, is driving up hydro rates and making the province uncompetitive, he said.

Premier Dalton McGuinty said Hudak wants to return to “failed” electricity policy that drove up prices a decade ago.

“We oppose selling off Niagara Falls,” McGuinty said.