Please see the email attached.
Regards,
Shelly Connell
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From: BoardSec
Sent: December 7, 2009 11:39 AM
To: Shelly-Anne Connell
Subject: FW: EB-2009-0326
______________________
John Pickernell
Assistant Board Secretary
Ontario Energy Board
416-440-7605
Fax: 416-440-7656
Website: www.oeb.gov.on.ca
Official Correspondence: BoardSec@oeb.gov.on.ca
Address:
P.O. Box 2319
2300 Yonge Street 27th Floor
Toronto, ON
M4P 1E4
______________________
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From: Penina Coopersmith [mailto:penina@coopersmith.ca]
Sent: December 7, 2009 11:22 AM
To: BoardSec
Subject: EB-2009-0326
Ms. Kirsten Walli, Secretary
Ontario Energy Board
BY EMAIL TO: boardsec@oeb.gov.on.ca
Dear Ms. Walli;
RE: EB-2009-0326 Connnection Fees for MicroFIT Projects
I strongly urge the Ontario Energy Board to eliminate all connection and administration fees related to small solar installations. Such fees simply penalize those who are showing leadership by embracing solar energy. Everyone in Ontario benefits from the proliferation of renewable energy such as solar; thus any costs incurred as a result of connecting and administering small solar electric accounts should be borne by all electricity consumers.
Because I believe strongly that small, renewable systems will collectively make a major contribution to reducing societal needs for large-scale power plants of all types, I installed a 2 kW solar electric generating system on my roof in downtown Toronto in August, 2006. At the time, there were vague promises of better prices for power generated by such small systems, but back then, there wasnt even agreement on how to connect to my local hydro company.
When that was sorted out (sort of it required a $1500 connection charge), I was told that the $0.22 then being offered was fixed for 20 years. Rather than risk being locked into an offer that made no sense to me I calculated my investment (not counting lost opportunity costs) would be recovered in 86 years I decided to wait until there was a clear policy on pricing rather than sign on to the RESOP.
This fall, as you know, a new price was established based on paying back investors in a reasonable time frame. Initially systems already up and running were deemed ineligible. After arguing about that for a month, that got sorted out. Now we are at the next piece of this complicated puzzle the price for connecting to the system and the cost of administering the connection. It is my understanding that these costs were not calculated into the $0.80 or so now being offered for energy generated by small systems. At the moment, some companies are charging as much or even more to administer the power they purchase from small generators as these generators earn. This makes absolutely no sense and runs entirely counter to the commitment to making such systems attractive to investors.
This situation is intolerable, and will serve to discourage anyone considering an investment in solar power. I strongly encourage the Board to eliminate these fees and instead to spread the costs to all consumers throughout the Province of Ontario.
Sincerely,
Penina Coopersmith
3 Langley Avenue
Toronto . M4K 1B4
416-469-3479
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