Ontario Energy Board

Hidden Predictability

Mining price signals in Ontario’s electricity market.

Hourly spot prices in Ontario power markets reveal no particular pattern – that is, unless you plot the price as a monthly average.

Pre-Funding to Mitigate Rate Shock

Re-starting the Big Build calls for revisiting cost-recovery mechanisms.

As the industry resumes major capital-spending programs, utilities and their stakeholders are rightly concerned about the effects on prices. Traditional regulatory approaches expose utilities to risks and costs, and can bring rate shock when capital spending finally makes its way into customers’ bills. Pre-funding investments can provide a smoother on-ramp to bearing the costs of a 21st-Century utility system — but it also raises questions for utilities to address.