Bill 91 explained in plain English
Stopping Electricity Disconnections in the Winter Act, 2017
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 Stopping Electricity Disconnections in the Winter Act, 2017, amends the Electricity Act, 1998, and the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998, to give the Ontario Energy Board more authority to regulate disconnections for low-volume consumers and to adjust procedures for information handling and utility oversight.
This bill, titled the Stopping Electricity Disconnections in the Winter Act, 2017, makes changes to Ontario's electricity and energy board laws. It aims to give the Ontario Energy Board more power to set rules about when electricity and gas can be disconnected from 'low-volume consumers', especially during winter. It also includes changes regarding how the Board handles information from inspections, how it reviews utility proposals, and how it deals with regulated utilities that may be in financial difficulty.
- Grants the Ontario Energy Board (the Board) the power to make rules and licence conditions about periods when gas or electricity cannot be disconnected from low-volume consumers.
- Allows the Board to exercise its powers over regulated utilities even if a liquidator or similar official has been appointed.
- Removes specific timeframes for the Board's orders concerning the reflection of deferral and variance accounts in rates.
- Gives the Board the authority to publish audit and compliance results from inspections, with provisions for confidentiality.
- Increases the Board's discretion in reviewing acquisitions involving electricity generators and transmitters/distributors, and allows for exemptions for minor transactions.
- Provides a more flexible appeals process for market participants under the Electricity Act, 1998, allowing the Board up to 120 days for a final decision.
- Changes how certain provisions in the Electricity Act, 1998, and the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998, apply when there is a conflict with other related acts.
- Low-volume consumers of electricity and gas.
- Regulated utilities (gas distributors, gas transmitters, storage companies, electricity distributors, electricity transmitters).
- The Ontario Energy Board.
- Market participants in the electricity sector.
- Liquidators, receivers, managers, and other officials appointed to regulated utilities.
- Inspectors conducting inspections under the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998.
- The Ontario Energy Board is given the power to make rules and licence conditions restricting disconnection of services to low-volume consumers during certain periods.
- Regulated utility interim officials must manage and operate utilities in accordance with the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998, other applicable legislation, licences, orders, rules, codes, and voluntary compliance assurances.
- Regulated utility interim officials and those acting under them must obey all orders of the Ontario Energy Board.
- The Board may publish inspection results, subject to an opportunity for the owner or provider of the information to make representations if the information is not otherwise public.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Changes to how deferral and variance accounts are handled may affect how costs are reflected in rates for gas and electricity consumers.
- The Ontario Energy Board may enforce its orders against regulated utility interim officials and persons acting under them, even if they are appointed by a court.
- The Board can make a ruling on whether documents, records, or information obtained by an inspector is to be kept confidential if it is admitted as evidence in a proceeding.
- The specific 'periods' during which electricity or gas may not be disconnected for low-volume consumers are not detailed in the bill text, but are to be prescribed by the Board's rules or licence conditions.
- The criteria for exempting certain transactions or construction activities from review by the Board are to be established by the Board.
- The bill does not specify what constitutes a 'low-volume consumer' beyond referencing section 47 of the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998, which is not provided in the source text.
Modifies provisions related to disconnection periods for low-volume consumers, extends the timeframe for appeals decisions, and clarifies conflicts with other legislation.
Source: Section 1
Introduces new powers for the Board regarding disconnections for low-volume consumers, allows the Board to act on regulated utilities in liquidation, changes how deferral and variance accounts are handled, permits publication of inspection results, adjusts review processes for certain transactions, and clarifies conflicts with other legislation.
Source: Sections 2-17
Specifies that rules made by the Ontario Energy Board under the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998, will prevail in case of conflict with section 59 of the Public Utilities Act regarding gas disconnections.
Source: Section 2(5)
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