Dear Editor,
This is regarding the April 18th letter Enbridge responds.
I disagree with the interpretation of Leanne McNaughton, Supervisor with Enbridge Gas in her recent letter. The Ontario Energy Board made the statements that Melissa Tervit summarized in her April 5, 2024 letter titled “Thoughts about Bill 165”. In the Ontario Energy Board eb-2022-0200 Decision and Order dated December 21, 2023 the OEB said:
“The risk that arises from the energy transition results from gas customers leaving the gas system as they transition to electricity to meet energy needs previously met by natural gas. This departure gives rise to assets that are not fully depreciated but are no longer used and useful. This results in stranded asset costs that Enbridge Gas would seek to recover from the remaining gas customers. This in turn would increase rates for those gas customers, leading more customers to leave the gas system, potentially leading to a continuing financial decline for the utility, often referred to as the utility death spiral.”
Leanne McNaughton goes on to say that Enbridge gas abides by an existing regulation that ensures that costs are borne by the customers who will benefit. She refers to EBO-188 requirements which were exactly the requirements considered by the OEB in order to come to this December decision to change the revenue horizon. The December decision required a change from business as usual in order to plan for the energy transition and a time, less than 40 years in the future, when we no longer use fossil fuels for heating.
The OEB required that Enbridge consider energy transition and said:
“The record is clear that Enbridge Gas has failed to do so. Enbridge Gas has taken the position that there is no stranded asset risk for the purposes of setting rates for 2024. This is not logical.”
I support the December decision by the Ontario Energy Board and suggest that we respect the regulator who has the responsibility to double check the submissions from our only source of natural gas. Gas customers choose their space heating source approximately once every 18 years. In my lifetime there has already been an energy transition. I have lived in homes heated with coal, oil, wood, and baseboard electric, gas, and now the most cost effective choice is a cold climate air source heat pump.
For the health of our children and grandchildren we must make our next space heating choice the one that does not burn fossil fuel and contribute green house gas emissions. Many, without a district energy project, will choose a cold climate air source heat pump and the December OEB change from the 40-year revenue horizon has planned for this.
Elizabeth Carswell, Sandford, ON
