Get ready for hydro hike: FFPC

Along with everyone else across Ontario, local residents will be seeing a jump in numbers on their next hydro bills as hot, humid weather across the province has resulted in a higher demand for power—and thus a higher cost.
“Everybody knew this would happen. We’re in an open market,” said Mark McCaig, CEO of the Fort Frances Power Corp.
“In May and June, we were delivering power at the lowest rate we could. That will change as people will see when they open their bill for July, which they’ll get in August,” he warned.
McCaig noted while everyone in the province, including people here, should conserve electricity in an effort to reduce the load on generation facilities, an increase for the next few months is inevitable.
“What happens is that Ontario is a summer-peaking province, and we’re really affected by what goes on in southern Ontario,” he explained.
“It could be cold here but if it was as hot as it is in Toronto right now, we’d still be paying the increased costs.”
FFPC customers will see the portion of their bill that will be different is the Hourly Ontario Energy Price, which has a direct relationship to the current high demand.
McCaig noted it’s “impossible” to say how much more customers will be paying over the summer as the HOEP can fluctuate on an hourly basis. But he said because of this, customers will be billed on a rate averaged out over the month.
“We’ll see the market trending around the fall or winter, and it will be back to about where it was before,” he added.
McCaig said people can get a good idea on how the HOEP fluctuates by checking out the links on the FFPC’s new Web site—ffpc.fort-frances.com
In related news, the Independent Electricity Market Operator (IMO) on Wednesday issued a press release advising the public to reduce their electricity use.
Some tips include:
•setting air conditioners to 26 C or higher, or use fans as an alternative;
•turning off unnecessary lights and appliances;
•closing curtains and blinds to keep out the sun and retain cooler air inside; and
•delaying the use of major power-consuming appliances, like dishwashers, washers and dryers, and swimming pool pumps, until after 8 p.m.