Bill 32 explained in plain English
Access to Natural Gas Act, 2018
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd Parliament, 1st 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 Access to Natural Gas Act, 2018 amends the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998, to establish a framework for consumer rate protection and compensation for gas distributors investing in expanding natural gas access.
Bill 32, also known as the Access to Natural Gas Act, 2018, amends the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998. It aims to provide financial protection for consumers when natural gas distributors make investments to extend natural gas access to new areas. Gas distributors can be compensated for lost revenue due to reduced rates, and certain consumers or classes of consumers may be required to contribute to this compensation. The Lieutenant Governor in Council can make regulations to define details such as what constitutes a 'qualifying investment,' which consumers are eligible for protection, and how compensation will be calculated and collected.
- Amends the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998 to include provisions for rate protection for consumers when natural gas distributors invest in expanding access to natural gas distribution systems.
- Allows gas distributors to receive compensation for lost revenue resulting from rate reductions related to these investments.
- Establishes that certain consumers or classes of consumers will be required to contribute towards the compensation for gas distributors.
- Grants the Lieutenant Governor in Council the power to make regulations to prescribe criteria for qualifying investments, eligible consumers, rate reduction calculations, compensation amounts, and collection methods.
- Gas distributors
- Consumers or prescribed classes of consumers
- The Ontario Energy Board
- The Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines
- The Lieutenant Governor in Council
- Gas distributors have the right to be compensated for lost revenue resulting from rate reductions for qualifying investments.
- Consumers or prescribed classes of consumers may have an obligation to contribute towards the compensation for gas distributors.
- The Ontario Energy Board has the duty to provide rate protection for consumers by reducing rates in accordance with prescribed rules.
- The Ontario Energy Board, gas distributors, and other prescribed persons or entities may have obligations to provide information and reports.
- The Act received Royal Assent on December 6, 2018.
- The Act comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor.
- Consumers or prescribed classes of consumers may be required to contribute financially towards compensation for gas distributors.
- Gas distributors may receive compensation for lost revenue.
- The bill does not specify penalties for non-compliance.
- Regulations may prescribe rules for the payment of interest or penalties on late payments for contributions towards compensation.
- The specific criteria for a 'qualifying investment' are not detailed in the bill and will be prescribed by regulation.
- The specific consumers or classes of consumers eligible for rate protection and required to contribute are not detailed and will be prescribed by regulation.
- The specific rules for calculating rate reductions and compensation amounts are not detailed and will be prescribed by regulation.
- The maximum total annual value of rate protection is not specified and will be prescribed by regulation.
- The details of how compensation will be collected and distributed are not specified and will be prescribed by regulation.
- The bill states that regulations made under it can be effective with reference to a period before they are filed, but the scope and conditions for this retroactivity are not fully detailed.
Adds new section 36.2 to establish 'rate protection' for consumers and compensation for gas distributors related to the expansion of natural gas distribution systems. This section also grants the Lieutenant Governor in Council the power to make regulations related to these matters.
Source: Section 1
This is the short title of the Act, which amends the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998.
Source: Section 3
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 does not have a published recorded division in the current official sources, so representative-by-representative vote counts are not shown.
No published representative vote breakdown
The current official sources do not publish a recorded division breakdown for this bill, so there is no representative-by-representative table to show.
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