Media Release: Ontario Gas Customers Slam Billion Dollar Giveaway to Texas–Based Energy Corporation

Attention News/Business Editors
For Immediate Release
August 22, 2007
OTTAWA/TORONTO – The McGuinty government is being asked to overturn an Ontario Energy Board (OEB) Decision that means that Union Gas’s Texas-based owners, Spectra Energy (formerly Duke Energy) will get to pocket an estimated billion dollars over a ten year period that would otherwise gone to their customers. In documents filed today with the Ontario cabinet, the Vulnerable Energy Consumers Coalition (VECC), a coalition of seniors and tenant organizations representing low and fixed income customers, replied to Union Gas submissions that sought to justify the OEB decision to deregulate the natural gas storage market.
The effect of the Board-ordered deregulation is to give all the revenue earned on the storage sold to non-Union customers to Union’s American parent. Prior to this, Union customers were credited with most of the revenue from these storage sales because they had paid in their rates to develop the storage. This means, after a brief transition period, a loss of an estimated one hundred million dollars per year to Union’s customers which will be have to be made up in increased rates. All natural gas customers pay for storage in their rates that helps to meet winter heating demands. Part of the annual one hundred million dollars paid to Union’s owners will include an additional amount of $40 million dollars paid by Enbridge customers to Union for storage it traditionally rents from Union.
“The Ontario government must tell Union’s customers why it’s necessary to give a billion dollars of Ontario consumer money to Spectra when that money has been obtained by the use of storage facilities that the customers already built for Union with their rates”, Michael Janigan, Executive Director and General Counsel of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre which represents VECC. “This money belongs to customers. Sending it to Texas won’t help build any new storage, and won’t save any energy in this province”, Janigan added.
Other major natural gas consumer groups have also appealed the controversial OEB decision. The Industrial Gas Users Association (IGUA) and the Consumers Council of Canada (CCC) have also filed petitions to the Ontario Cabinet challenging the decision that would deregulate all Union storage that is not now needed to serve its own customers and give the storage rental revenue to the company.
VECC has requested that the Government return the matter to the OEB for review with a view to changing its Decision so that Ontario customers will be protected.

PIAC: Local Telephone Customers Will Pay the Price for Deregulation

August 3, 2007
For immediate release
Attention: News/Business Editors
OTTAWA—Ordinary consumers will pay the price for today’s deregulation of Canada’s major urban local telephone markets by the CRTC, says the Public Interest Advocacy Centre. The Commission today released decisions deregulating local exchange services for most local telephone exchanges in Ontario and Quebec, many in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and larger urban areas in Alberta and B.C. Today’s series of decisions result from the intervention of Industry Minister Maxime Bernier earlier this year to overrule the CRTC and let Canada’s big telephone companies, including Bell Canada, TELUS, MTS Allstream and Sasktel, escape regulation earlier than previously determined. Industry Minister Bernier has promised that hastening local telephone service deregulation will lead to lower telephone rates for consumers.
PIAC doesn’t think so. “ Telephone services are going the way of banking services- any discounts will be for big customers and the competition will not be strong enough to produce real benefits for ordinary consumers” said Michael Janigan, Executive Director and General Counsel of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in Ottawa. “And there will be no CRTC oversight to ensure quality of service does not go down at the same time.”
John Lawford, PIAC legal counsel noted: “If you are a high volume customer who threatens to move your business to another carrier such as a cable company you might negotiate a better rate. But average consumers will have to eventually foot the bill for those individual discounts and will carry the full weight of telephone companies’ drives to increase profit. It could get expensive.”
PIAC participated in all CRTC and government processes associated with telephone deregulation on behalf of ordinary and vulnerable residential consumers.
For more information:
Michael Janigan
Executive Director and General Counsel
Public Interest Advocacy Centre
1204 – 1 Nicholas Street
Ottawa, ON
K1S 2P1
Tel: 613-562-4002×26
(613) 562-0007 (Fax)
John Lawford
Counsel
Public Interest Advocacy Centre
ONE Nicholas Street, Suite 1204
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 7B7
(613) 562-4002×25
(613) 562-0007 (Fax)
jlawford@piac.ca