Canada - Failed Privatization Attempts Damage Power Production Facilities. Residents Warned to Expect Breakdowns and Rolling Blackouts

Power crisis hits Ontario during long hot summer

The same dark list of warnings, breakdowns, emergencies and "rolling blackouts" that have made California infamous are now threatening Ontario residents, despite the tattered assurances of Mike Harris, Ontario's former premier and prince of privatization, that such problems could never happen here.

Ottawa residents were warned this week, as temperatures hit 35C, in the first heat wave of the summer, to turn off air conditioners, dish washers and other appliances or face rotating shutdowns. Nightly television newscasts featured residents fanning themselves in sweltering old folks homes.

Rockcliffe affected

One of the areas affected was Rockcliffe, home of some of Ottawa's wealthiest families, the very people that Harris, and his successor, Ernie Eves, turn to first for political support.

And that was just a taste of what is likely to occur before the long hot summer of 2003 is over in Ontario. The province got through 2002 by the skin of its teeth, but few believe it will be as lucky this year.

At one point on Wednesday, total industrial and domestic demand hit 25,000 megawatts across the province. One megawatt of electricity equals 1,000 kilowatts or one million watts; 1,000 megawatts will provide electricity for a million houses.

Yet as demand for power continues to increase, the Tories wallow in a crisis caused by years of inaction and failed initiatives to convince Ontarians to accept a privatized power system.

As a result, they are now frantically trying to encourage power conservation on one hand, while simultaneously freezing power rates on the other to quell a backlash against soaring electrical bills caused in no small part by their tinkering with privatization.

Aging system

The power system is badly run down and deeply in debt. Plants are aging and falling apart. The province can no longer produce the power it needs. The Tories have even failed to get temporary generators up and going in time for the summer.

Meanwhile, frantic efforts are under way to buy costly "open market" power from other provinces and the U.S. (subsidized by Ontario tax money) to fill the gap.

It's not the picture of good management that the Tories, gearing up for an election and flagging in the polls, want to project. And their future does not look bright. Many are predicting that Eves and his government could pay a heavy price when he finally faces the music and goes to the polls.

[Source:http://www.oneworld.net]