How much money will Swift River Energy Limited be paid for the electricity it produces at Bala Falls?
Waterpower is the lowest cost renewable power. Generally, OPG hydro projects produce power for less than the spot price of electricity, which is in the five to seven cent range. To encourage renewable forms of energy production, all waterpower projects in Ontario are offered the same twenty-year contract at 11.08 cents per kWh. While this may seem higher than the cost paid by the consumer, this must be balanced against publicly owned power that received large subsidies and resulted in a $30 billion debt electricity customers will be paying for generations to come. By contrast, the standard offer contracts power companies like Swift River Energy would enter into with the Ontario Power Authority do not increase the Province’s or taxpayer’s exposure to debt. It is interesting to note that power contracts with private power operators twenty years ago were considered outrageously expensive at that time. Within a decade, power prices had increased well beyond those contracted prices and have
