It took Steve Paikin 4 seconds to mislead the viewers of Ontario’s public broadcaster last night.
“Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk’s year-end report found that Ontarians overpaid for electricity by 37 billion dollars. ” – podcast
No, The Auditor General’s year-end report stated, correctly:
Global Adjustment fees, which are the excess payments to generators over the market price, amounted to $37 billion from 2006 to 2014
Should this confuse Mr. Paikin?
The electricity issue is not a a new one in Ontario and the global adjustment, while complex in some respects, does essentially refer to the difference between what a generator is paid, by contract (say $100 per unit), and what the market valued that power at (say $20 per unit).
… “Joining us now to explore why rates keep rising and other mysteries of the energy file…”
Of a 3 person panel on Paikin’s show, one has a history of distracting people from understanding Ontario’s energy file, and another is actively paid by the government in multiple roles.
Martin Regg Cohn has been the Queen’s Park propagandist at the Toronto Star for long enough to have seen 3 annual auditor general reports critical of policies in the electricity sector. Of the 2011 Report he wrote:
Auditor’s aren’t infallible. This report is sloppy in its reliance on questionable foreign studies that claim every green job costs three or four jobs elsewhere when rates rise. These studies have long been discredited for their dubious methodologies and funding
Regg Cohn responded to the Auditor’s 2014 report by producing a distraction the morning of the report’s release.
Thanks to a whistleblower, we now have the secret details of how Ontarians are being hosed by The Beer Store…
This year Regg Cohn’s response to the 2015 AG report included the irrelevant but ominous:
… who watches the watchdog? Who audits the auditor to determine if Lysyk’s $16.5-million office budget delivers value for money?
$16.5 million is not a big worry among Ontario’s electricity consumers, who saw about $2 billion in charges added to their 2015 bills through the cost shifting of the global adjustment (the cost shifting is not discussed as it is complicated).
The second panel member was lawyer Lisa DeMarco. DeMarco’s attributes include:
These attributes don’t necessitate her being evil, but they do make Paikin’s first questions to her ridiculous:
- Do you think [Lysyk’s] criticisms are valid?
- So she got it all right except for all the things she forgot?
DeMarco produced pop platitudes predictably.
The third panel member was Brady Yauch, and I’m a fan of his, so I won’t dwell beyond advising all to follow the Consumer Policy Institute blog.
I don’t recommend listening to the show, but I did want to address the most blatant falsehoods presented.Read More »