March 27, 2010 by admin.

Ontario Demand and Market Prices

Note: As of March 27, 2010, at 1:00 PM EDT,  the price was 3.01¢/kWh
Average Weighted Price for March was 2.81¢/kWh
Average Weighted Price since Jan 1, 2010 was 3.30¢/kWh

That low price has not been seen in Alberta for more than ten years now.  The price per kWh in Alberta has been more than twice the price in Ontario ever since Albertans were saddled with deregulated electric energy prices.

Alberta TMR Reference Prices (per MWh; divide by 1,000 to derive price per kWh)

A contract price will help to provide a steady, non-fluctuating rate for electric energy bills.  However, there is not a single energy provider in Alberta who will provide electric energy at close to the low price paid by Ontarians.

For residential users, farmers and small businesses in Alberta, deregulation of the electric energy market was a false promise that, instead of “putting more money back into the pockets of Albertans” (Ed Stelmach *) more than doubled the price of electric energy, beginning Jan. 1, 2000.

* We will continue to monitor energy supplies and pricing and take appropriate action when necessary in the best interest of all Albertans.
The Alberta Government is committed to putting more money back into the pockets of Albertans.

Ed Stelmach (PC), Alberta Minister of Transportation,
MLA Vegreville-Viking, 2002 04 19,
in his response to an open letter on utility pricing policies.
(Source)

Since then, the deregulation of Alberta’s electric energy industry cost Albertans far in excess of $10 billion dollars, much of which added to the windfall revenues gathered by the Alberta Government.

By the way,

Tracking Earth Hour in the Greenest State

27 03 2010 Earth Hour comes to every time zone at 8:30 PM today. Will it make a difference?

Their website says:

On Earth Hour hundreds of millions of people around the world will come together to call for action on climate change by doing something quite simple—turning off their lights for one hour. The movement symbolizes that by working together, each of us can make a positive impact in this fight, protecting our future and that of future generations. Learn more about how Earth Hour began, what we’ve accomplished, and what is in store for 2010.

As Anthony Watts properly identifies at his blog, “…last year, according to the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), Earth Hour made zero difference to the California power consumption. Zero, zip, nada. ” (read more)

Effective propaganda always makes attractive claims, but you can bet your life on one major aspect of it.  The more wide-spread a propaganda campaign ranges, and the more intensive it is, the more money it will cost.  In the end, those costs are always paid by the end consumers.

Posted in Electric Energy Prices, Energy Issues, Energy Purchases | Print | No Comments »

March 4, 2010 by admin.

August Review
The Global Elite Research Letter

Smart Grid: The Implementation of Technocracy?

By Patrick Wood, Editor
March 2, 2010

Introduction

According to the United Nations Governing Council of the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP),  “our dominant economic model may thus be termed a ‘brown economy.” UNEP’s clearly stated goal is to overturn the “brown economy” and replace it with a “green economy”:

“A green economy implies the decoupling of resource use and environmental impacts from economic growth… These investments, both public and private, provide the mechanism for the reconfiguration of businesses, infrastructure and institutions, and for the adoption of sustainable consumption and production processes.”  [p. 2]

Sustainable consumption? Reconfiguring businesses, infrastructure and institutions? What do these words mean? They do not mean merely reshuffling the existing order, but rather replacing it with a completely new economic system, one that has never before been seen or used in the history of the world.

This paper will demonstrate that the current crisis of capitalism is being used to implement a radical new economic system that will completely supplant it. This is not some new idea created in the bowels of the United Nations: It is a revitalized implementation of Technocracy that was thoroughly repudiated by the American public in 1933, in the middle of the Great Depression….(Full Story)

Posted in Energy Issues, Community & Industry, Energy Purchases | Print | No Comments »

April 13, 2009 by admin.

The Edmonton Journal
Edmonton,Alberta,Canada
April 13, 2009

Bruderheim families voice safety concerns over ‘dangerous’ plan
By Andrea Sands,

…Area homeowners are also worried that train cars carrying sulphur to and from the plant may derail. Debbie Bishop, a lawyer for FOLC, said residents don’t … (Full Story)

________________
Note by folc.ca: The article identified above discusses the concerns of FOLC (Friends of Lamont County) that county residents in the vicinity of a proposed sulphur-forming, -storage and -shipping facility to be built less than two miles east of the Town have, if the Natural Resource Conservation Board (NRCB) gives HAZCO permission to build the sulphur plant and storage facility at the intended location.

The sulphur storage will have a capacity of up to 90,000 tonnes.  That is the carrying capacity of approximately six sulphur unit-trains of a hundred cars each and six times the amount of sulphur that burned in the disastrous sulphur fire that harmed thousands of residents at the town of Macassar, South Africa, in 1995.  Macassar was located at a somewhat greater distance from that sulphur fire than Bruderheim is located in relation to the proposedHAZCO sulphur plant.

The NRCB hearing will be held during an estimated four-day interval at the Lakeview Inn & Suites, 10115 - 88 Ave, Fort Saskatchewan.  The hearing will begin at 9:00 a.m., April 14, 2009.

The NRCB hearing is crucial to the future of the people who live in Lamont County.  What is at stake is essentially whether Lamont County — at the very least the areas that have been rezoned Heavy Industrial, and the areas adjacent to them — will within the space of a few years become as devoid of residences as is the Industrial Heartland in Strathcona County.

HAZCO’s sulphur facility poses a threat to residents within a large radius from its location (including the residents of Bruderheim and Lamont).  That is what is at stake at the NRCB hearing beginning on Tuesday.

It is in the best interest of every single resident of our county to attend.  It is especially in the interest of the residents of Bruderheim and Lamont to attend.

A good number of concerns by Lamont-County residents have not yet been addressed satisfactorily.  It is our health, our lives and our wellbeing that is at stake.

Make sure you are there!

 Lakeview Inn & Suites

10115 - 88 Ave, Fort Saskatchewan,

April 14, 2009, 9:00 a.m.

The details of the concerns by FOLC can be looked up at this link.

More information about sulphur fires is accessible at folc.ca.

Posted in Energy Purchases, Fines & Penalties, Hazco, Sulphur-Related Construction Costs, Hydrogen-Sulphide, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

November 25, 2006 by admin.

That is not sulphur-related news.  Nevertheless, it is of interest to people who live in rural areas in the vicinity of the waste-sulphur facility proposed by HAZCO.Application forms for energy-purchase contracts for members of the Bruderheim and Chipman REAs can be obtained now.  The contracts offer electric energy at a price that is about two cents per kWh below the price those members are paying presently for energy offered under the regulated rate tariff.  The regulated rate tariff has been increasing every month lately, while the contract price on offer will be guaranteed to stay for one year at the rate of 6.9 cents per kWh.  That is a clear and substantial advantage and explains why the application forms for energy purchase contracts are in such great demand.  (Additional Details)

Posted in Energy Purchases | Print | No Comments »