Some very basic practical tips to keep your house cool in summer.

If it goes to 90 or 100 degrees where you live and you absolutely need to run the Air Conditioning to keep your house cool only run it after 9:00 pm. There is less strain on your AC unit and typically you will pay far less for the Electricity to run the AC on Off-Peak hours.  (8.7 cents versus 19 cents per KW Hr in Ontario)

If your home is well insulated with good vapour and air barrier the house should stay cool all day long. Even when it is 90 degrees outside. 

If you live in an old drafty home with little insulation and no vapour or air barrier it may be better to look for a newer house, or build your own with double wall, and double Insulation. I recommend a small bungalow (1,000 sq ft) with a large basement since it is always warmer on a second floor. If possible design your house so that the bedrooms are in the basement, where it is always cooler.

If it is a comfortable temperature in your house and it is hot outside keep the windows closed. If it is cooler outside and a good breeze then open the windows on each side of your house and place a fan that blows out one of the windows. This creates a negative pressure and will draw the cool air into your house.

Plant lots of Maple Trees on the South Side of your house. Not so close that the roots damage your foundation but at a distance so that the mature trees will provide shade to the South side of your house. The October Glory or Autumn Blaze Maple are fast growing trees that will turn a Brilliant orange and red each fall. The leaves drop by winter and allow the Sun to heat your home during the winter.

Please add your tips in the comments below ....

Hydro One CEO receives $4 Million Salary while 60,000 families have their power turned off.

Kathleen Wynne and the Liberal Government in Ontario have increased Hydro Rates (Electricity costs) by over 200 % since 2008.

In many rural parts of Ontario the costs are even higher since Ontario Hydro companies can charge higher costs for "Delivery" of the electricity along wires to each home.

In many cases Hydro Bills have gone from $100 a month to over $500 per month. That's $6,000 / year for electricity needed to run lights, refrigerators, stoves, heating and cooling. Some people who made the switch to Geothermal heating and cooling are seeing Hydro Bills above $1,000 per month since the pumps needed to circulate the glycol are run on Electricity.

This year the Hydro companies have turned off the power to 60,000 homes for not paying their Electricity bills ....

Meanwhile, this guy - Mayo Schmidt  the New CEO of Hydro One has decided to pay himself  $ 4 Million dollars a year Salary !  For what ? Extracting every last penny from the poor people of Ontario ? Please, tell me this is just a really really bad joke.

People in Ontario can no longer pay their Hydro Bills and are having their Electricity turned off and this guy gives himself a $3.5 Million dollar raise ?

It is Winter here and many people still heat their homes with Electricity, and now this guy, who elected to pay himself $4 Million a year is turning off their power ? Something is very wrong in Ontario.

No wonder everybody in Ontario wants to get off the grid.

From the Financial Post:
http://business.financialpost.com/executive/c-suite/hyrdo-one-ceos-pay-of-4-million-with-bonus-approaches-top-end

Notes:

Number of disconnections

According to the OEB, nearly 60,000 residential customers were disconnected from their hydro services in Ontario for non-payment last year – 9,772 of which were Hydro One customers. The OEB claims utility providers reconnect 99 per cent of households within two business days of disconnection. However, closer analysis of the data provided by the OEB shows that for Hydro One, this figure is significantly lower.

Of the nearly 10,000 disconnections performed by Hydro One last year, only 7,269 were reconnected, or roughly 75 per cent.

Why do our Hydro Rates keep climbing ?

Hydro rates going up again, the Ontario Energy Board says. OEB says milder winter is to blame for rate hikes....

Only in Ontario would customers be penalized for Reduced Electricity Consumption.

We do the things we are supposed to do: use smart meters, turn down the temperature, use the dryer dishwasher on off hours, turn off lights and yet we still get screwed."

As a result of lower usage, Regulated Price Plan (RPP) prices did not recover the full cost of serving RPP customers. One of the main reasons prices have increased this last May is to recover this shortfall." With the salaries shown below, it would appear the main function of the electricity system, supposedly supplying electricity to us, is just an incidental activity.

This is where your increased Hydro payment are going ...

HYDRO ONE - MAYO SCHMIDT $1 Million + 3 Million Bonus CEO

OPG - THOMAS MITCHELL $1,720,774 President & Chief Executive Officer
OPG - WAYNE ROBBINS $920,714 Chief Nuclear Officer
OPG - JOHN MURPHY $910,870 Executive Vice President, Strategic Initiatives
Hydro One - CARMINE MARCELLO $728,571 President & Chief Executive Officer
OPG - DONN W. HANBIDGE $670,930 Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
OPG - FRANK CHIAROTTO $616,741 Senior Advisor, Joint Ventures
OPG - PIERRE F. TREMBLAY $596,510 President, Canadian Nuclear Partners
Hydro One - MYLES D'ARCEY $566,834 Senior Vice President, Customer Operations
Hydro One - SANDY STRUTHERS $566,364 Chief Administrative Officer Chief Financial Officer
Hydro One - PETER GREGG $565,272 Chief Operating Officer
OPG - PAUL PASQUET $534,538 Senior Vice President
OPG - WILLIAM ELLIOTT $523,400 Senior Vice President, Nuclear Engineering & Chief Nuclear Engineer
OPG - BRUCE BOLAND $519,636 Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations & Environment
OPG - GLENN JAGER $513,163 Chief Nuclear Officer
OEB - ROSEMARIE LECLAIR $509,223 Chair & Chief Executive Officer
OPG - MICHAEL GRIFFITHS $504,992 Control Room Shift Supervisor
OPG - TONY KOKUS $497,993 Senior Thermal Station Engineer/Officer
OPG - BARBARA KEENAN $474,236 Senior Vice President, People, Culture & Chief Ethics
OPG - CHRISTOPHER GINTHER $454,386 Senior Vice President, Law & General Counsel
OPG - BRIAN DUNCAN $452,164 Senior Vice President, Darlington
Hydro One - WAYNE SMITH $449,489 Senior Vice President, Planning & Operating
OPG - DIETMAR E. REINER $439,547 Senior Vice President, Nuclear Refurbishment
OPG - MICHAEL ALLEN $428,682 Deputy Site Vice President Hydro One

More .... http://www.ontario-hydro.com/salaries-2014

Salaries Related to Ontario 's Hydro Costs between the Ontario Energy Board (OEB), Hydro One and the Ontario Power Generation (OPG) (all three Public Sector Agencies) there are 11,879 employees who make more than $100,000/Year! These top earners draw combined annual earnings of over 1.6 billion dollars. There are 626 making more than $200,000/Year.

According to the Globe and Mail, a whopping 77.5% of Ontario Power Generation employees make over $100,000/Year. Over 70% of
Hydro One employees and over 60% of Ontario Energy Board employees make over 100K. Here we only show the top 182 who are in the Million Dollar Country Club.

Have you ever seen such ridiculous bloated job titles? And they want the customers to pay more!?

Pass this along to those that you think might be as pissed off as you are.....
Copy and paste to your own Blog or Web Site.

Ontario Hydro rates Skyrocket 222 % over 8 years !

Remember when Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne installed Smart Meters in every home in Ontario back in 2008 and promised Lower Hydro costs for everyone since the new rates would be "Time of Use" meaning that if you used Hydro during Off Peak hours, typically from 7:00 pm to 7:00 am you could effectively manage your Consumption and reduce your Hydro bills ??



They rolled out the Smart Meters and TOU (Time of Use Program) with Off Peak Rates as low as 2.7 cents/KWhr ....

May 1, 2008

Off Peak = 2.7

Mid Peak = 7.3

Peak =  9.3

So here we are 8 years later....

Nov 1, 2016

Off Peak = 8.7

Mid Peak = 13.2

Peak =  18

Source:
http://www.ontarioenergyboard.ca/OEB/Consumers/Electricity/Electricity%20Prices/Historical%20Electricity%20Priceshttp://www.ontario-hydro.com


After replacing every Incandescent Light bulb with LED, going from 60 watts to 8 watts per Light bulb, after only running washers, dryers,  dishwashers during evenings and weekends, or on Holidays, after turning off Furnace Fans and putting other High consumption items on Timers to only run Off Peak where are we ?

For those of us that have worked relentlessly to bring down our Hydro Bills the Ontario Government has increased the Off Peak Rates from 2.7 cents per KWHr up to 8.7 KWHr.

An Increase of 222 %  !

Yes, you read that correctly. 222 %

That means if your Bill was $100 per month and you made no changes you are now paying $320 per month.

On top of this the City of Ottawa has increased Water Rates by 6% this year and Property Taxes by 2 % per year every year.  And the Bank of Canada reports that there is little inflation, less than 2%.

Let me ask you this. If 220 % is "little Inflation" what is a lot of Inflation ?
I think it is time to go off the grid.

Taxpayers may have noticed a change in water bills this month, as rates increased by six per cent – or about $48 on the average homeowner’s bill.  http://www.metronews.ca/news/ottawa/2015/05/14/new-water-rates-coming-down-the-pipe-in-ottawa.html




The Cost of Everything is Skyrocketing, yet the Bank of Canada tells us there is little to no inflation.... Really ???

The Average house price in Ottawa, Ontario has also risen 31 % over the past 8 years.  http://www.homesinottawa.com/site/Pages/history-of-average-house-prices.html


Contact the Premiere of Ontario: Kathleen Wynne

https://correspondence.premier.gov.on.ca/EN/feedback/default.aspx

Ontario Hydro Mismanagement will cost Residents Billions

Living in the Dark  ...

 "Ontarians have paid $37-billion more than market price for electricity over eight years and will pay another $133-billion extra by 2032 as a result of haphazard planning and political meddling...

The Liberal government has repeatedly overruled expert advice – and even tore up two long-term plans from the Ontario Power Authority for the electricity system – in favour of political decisions that drove up power costs for consumers" (Auditor General Report) 

By law, the Ontario Power Authority (OPA), which has now merged into the Independent Electricity System Operator, was supposed to provide a long-term plan for electricity that independent regulators would vet. But in 2007 and 2011, OPA produced such a plan only to have the Liberals overrule it and make ad-hoc decisions on the system by fiat. 

As a result, electricity prices for consumers and small businesses jumped by 70 per cent – from 5.32 cents per kilowatt hour to 9.06 cents – between 2006 and 2014. The largest part of the reason for that is an increase to Global Adjustment Fees, which for the past decade have paid power-generating companies more than market price for their power as an incentive to set up in Ontario. Those fees amounted to $37-billion between 2006 and 2014, and are projected to add $133-billion from 2015 to 2032.

Ontario pays more for green power than other jurisdictions. Compared to U.S. prices, the cost of wind power in Ontario is DOUBLE and solar power is more than TRIPLE.  The 2010 Green Energy Act failed to take advantage of low electricity prices and instead mandated higher prices for wind and solar power companies than they had received previously. This added up to $9.2-billion more in renewables costs.

In January, 2010, the OPA warned the province that the Lower Mattagami hydroelectric project was $1-billion over budget, but the government allowed it to proceed. As a result, power from that plant costs $135/megawatts per hour, compared to an average cost of $46/megawatts per hour for two other recent hydro projects.

The province also produces enough extra electricity to power the province of Manitoba, an excess that costs consumers. For instance, the province paid $3.1-billion to power generators between 2009 and 2014 for power that was not needed, plus another $339-million not to produce power. The province also paid $32.6-million to exporters to distribute the excess power to other jurisdictions.

In order to pay for these massive blunders and many others the Liberal Government simply approves rate increases and "Delivery" charges and costs are transferred to the consumers. At the moment many people can no longer afford the luxury of electricity and are having to disconnect from the Ontario Power Grid. How very sad. Nothing is done, and this winter many Ontarians will be literally living in the dark.    

More: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontarians-paid-37-billion-above-market-price-for-electricity-over-eight-years-ag/article27560753/

Man builds Giant Wind Tower in Suburban back yard.

Growing tired of the rapidly rising cost of Hydro in Ontario,  Nepean Resident Bill Smith has taken drastic measures and has constructed a massive Wind Turbine and Solar Farm in his back yard.

He is now generating 1,000 KW/mo  and is completely free from the Ontario Hydro grid.

Rather than complain,  many neighbours have lined up to have Bill construct similar towers in their backyard.

There is no telling how far this will go. But finally people are waking up and taking action.

When asked what drove him to such extremes Bill said ... Extremes ? This is nothing.  I have room for 5 more -  It was my $1200 month Hydro bill that pushed me over the edge.  I just could not take it any more, he says. After seeing my bill go up and up and up, I had to do something.  I calculated that I could build one of these suckers every month for the next 10 years and save a fortune. I did a little research online and there it was, the Turbo X5000-E3 Industrial Grade Wind Turbine.

I have calculated that I can generate over 1,000 KWhr /mo no problems, even when the wind ain't blowin....  Stay tuned for more he says.

Note: Industrial wind turbines  similar to the widely used GE 1.5-megawatt model, for example, consists of 116-ft blades atop a 212-ft tower for a total height of 328 feet. The blades sweep a vertical airspace of just under an acre.
Note: This is Satire. 

How we cut our Hydro Bill in half with 6 Watt LED light bulbs.

Since the Ontario Liberal Government installed their Smart Metres and "Time of Use" Rates we have done everything possible to only use our electricity during Off-Peak hours..... usually from 7:00 pm to 7:00 am. We have been able to keep our Hydro Bills around $200 per month.

But recently the Liberal government again announced that they were going to raise the Off-Peak rates to 8.7 cents per KW Hr. This does not seem like a lot, but when you consider the fact that these "Off-peak" rates have climbed from 2.7 cents in 2008 to 8.7 watts this October it equates to a 222% Increase. And that is a lot.  

We started to hear stories of people's Hydro Bills going above $500/month. Some as high as $1,200/mo.

In fact the Liberal Government has decided to penalize those that are working hardest to reduce their consumption, those of us trying our best to only use Power during Off-Peak times. 

At the moment we only run our Washing Machine, Dryer, Dish Washer, and AC after 9:00 pm, on weekends or Holidays. We wanted to also change all of our Light bulbs from 25 or 40 Watts to the new 3 and 6 watt LED Light bulbs. But the cost of these Light bulbs was ridiculous, until recently. So in September I changed every Light bulb to a 6 Watt LED. (40 Watt Equivalent) 

Watch for Sales on these 6 watt - 40 Watt Equivalent Light bulbs at Canadian Tire, Loblaws or even Amazon.ca  (Pack of 10)

B-right 10 Pack 5W LED Bulbs, 400lm, 40W Incandescent Bulb Equivalent .. https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B016KAKVG6/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_x_hA3oybFESJ5H6

See the chart below - The Right hand side shows our October and November Usage. The results are quite dramatic.....  This October we had our Consumption down to 554 HW Hrs. This is for a 2,000 sq Ft home & family of 4. We used $62.39 of Electricity and with Delivery Charges, other fees and Taxes our October Hydro Bill was $107.  I'll post our November Usage and Bill on Dec 1st.