Bill 197 explained in plain English
Affordable Electricity Act, 2018
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
The Affordable Electricity Act, 2018, if passed, would mandate the Minister of Energy to ensure clean electricity is provided to residents and small businesses at the lowest possible cost by implementing specific regulatory and policy changes by December 31, 2018.
This bill, if passed, would enact the Affordable Electricity Act, 2018. It would place a duty on the Minister of Energy to ensure that Ontario residents and small businesses have access to clean electricity at the lowest possible cost. To achieve this, the Minister would be required to make several changes to regulations and policies by December 31, 2018. These changes include prioritizing the use of certain types of electricity generation, ensuring competitive bidding for electricity supply, increasing transparency in pricing, eliminating preferential treatment and subsidies for new wind and solar projects, cancelling conservation program subsidies, regulating the electricity distribution grid for customer benefit, and prohibiting measures that artificially lower prices by deferring costs. The bill also requires electricity bills to itemize deferred costs and sunk cost repayments, and to ensure Ontario customers can access surplus electricity at the lowest available rates.
- Enacts the Affordable Electricity Act, 2018.
- Imposes a duty on the Minister of Energy to ensure residents and small businesses have access to clean electricity at the lowest possible cost.
- Requires the Minister of Energy to amend regulations and policies related to electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and sale by December 31, 2018, to prioritize minimizing customer costs.
- Mandates specific actions by the Minister of Energy by December 31, 2018, including prioritizing the use of publicly owned water-powered and nuclear-powered generating stations, ensuring competitive bids for electricity supply, and establishing transparency in the electricity regulation process.
- Requires the elimination of preferential treatment and termination of subsidies for new wind and solar electricity generation projects.
- Requires the cancellation of conservation program subsidies paid by the Independent Electricity System Operator.
- Requires the regulation of the electricity distribution grid to provide maximum benefit to customers, including cost reduction and transparency.
- Prohibits measures that artificially lower electricity prices by deferring costs.
- Requires electricity bills to itemize deferred costs and sunk cost repayments.
- Ensures surplus electricity generated in Ontario is made available to Ontario customers at the lowest offered rates.
- Minister of Energy
- Residents of Ontario
- Small businesses in Ontario
- Electricity customers in Ontario
- Publicly owned water-powered generating stations
- Publicly owned nuclear-powered generating stations
- Potential suppliers of electricity
- Independent Electricity System Operator
- Electricity distributors
- Electricity suppliers
- The Minister of Energy has a duty to ensure residents and small businesses have access to clean electricity at the lowest possible cost.
- The Minister of Energy must take specific actions by December 31, 2018, to fulfill this duty.
- Electricity customers have the right to have their bills itemize deferred costs and sunk cost repayments.
- Electricity customers have the right to access surplus electricity at the lowest offered rates.
- December 31, 2018: Deadline for the Minister of Energy to amend regulations and policies.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Elimination of preferential treatment and subsidies for new wind and solar electricity generation projects.
- Cancellation of conservation program subsidies.
- Requirements for transparency in pricing arrangements and payments between electric utilities and electricity suppliers.
- Prohibition of measures that artificially lower electricity prices by borrowing money that must be repaid later.
- Mandatory itemization of deferred costs and sunk cost repayments on electricity bills.
- The bill does not specify penalties for non-compliance, but it imposes duties on the Minister of Energy.
- The bill does not specify how the Minister of Energy will ensure that regulations and policies are amended to place the highest priority on minimizing the cost of electricity to customers, beyond the specific examples provided.
- The bill does not detail the process for eliminating preferential treatment or terminating subsidies for wind and solar projects.
- The bill does not provide details on the procedures for regulating the electricity distribution grid to ensure maximum benefit to customers.
- The bill does not specify penalties for failing to comply with its provisions.
This bill, if passed, would create a new Act of the Ontario Legislature.
Source: Section 1
These regulations and policies would need to be amended to prioritize minimizing the cost of electricity to customers.
Source: Section 1 (2) (a)
Electricity bills would need to itemize deferred costs that customers will have to pay in the future as a result of this Act.
Source: Section 1 (2) (f)
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced