Here's a pair of records that just occurred – for all the reasons I've noted elsewhere on this blog.
- Monthly Net Exports hit an all-time high in December 2010.
- January 1st was the lowest daily average for the HOEP (hourly Ontario Energy Price) since records began.
- January 1st, hour 21, wind output was recorded at 1186MW - a new record.
December 2010 saw Ontario export 1.6 TWh more electricity than it imported, which was a third more than the previous high from August 2008. This would be a much greater accomplishment if the IESO HOEP price wasn't approximately $35/MWh in December, and we didn't contract supply at around $70/MWh. This net export accomplishment cost us about $60 million.
January 1st brought a new record that, if it became a trend, could lead to us wishing for the good old days where we paid suppliers $70 for a product to export at $35.
The IESO daily summary for January 1st, 2011, shows an average Hourly Ontario Energy price at a record low of negative $20.29/MWh. With exports averaging close to 3000MW each hour, we paid external markets about $1.5 million to take off our hands production we paid our suppliers about $5 million dollars for.
Happy New Year ... the bill will be in the global adjustment,/provincial benefit portion of your wholesale bill, or in your electricity rate, and, starting January 1st, also part of your provincial tax bill (the part that services the rapidly expanding debt).
Hopefully there are people resolving to take things more seriously this year.
