Society members Harout Manoughian (Hydro One), Chris Graham (LVP IESO), Steven Norrie (IESO), and Ralph Chatoor (OPG) were on hand for Minister of Energy Glenn Thibeault’s Empire Club of Canada speech. Minister Thibeault presented his vision of where the energy industry is headed. He raised three fundamental points:
- Future procurements will be technology agnostic with no more quotas for a specific type of energy source;
- IESO is undergoing a market renewal for the first time in more than a decade and has the Minister of Energy’s full support; and
- Distribution companies will be encouraged to offer varying rate plans for differing service levels, similar to cable and phone companies. This likely means having neighbourhood-level storage to minimize the impact of outages.
Society members also had the chance to speak to the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Arthur Potts (Liberal, Beaches – East York), who was seated at The Society’s table.
The presence of The Society at the event was made known to the Minister who thanked the union for the work that our members do to provide reliable, cost-effective energy to the province of Ontario.
Submitted by: Harout Manoughian, Ralph Chatoor and Chris Graham
