but, there's a constant in people's reaction. they don't understand why the government would have a system that doesn't incentivize conservation.
the reason is that ontario has an almost entirely clean and fully renewable grid from a combination of hydro, solar & wind, mostly [we have something like 5% on natural gas, still - and absolutely no coal at all]. our government has already put the infrastructure in place. we could have transitioned quite some time ago, if people understood the facts on the ground.
but, instead, people want to conserve. because it's drilled into their heads. by american media.
but, the real way to break through this confusing set of contradictions is to come to the following conclusion: a market for electricity is impossible. that's the scam, here. it's the thing that needs to be abolished.
see, you can't turn the hydro off and you can't store the solar or the wind. so, generation costs are static. that is, they are not altered by demand. so, you literally can't conserve. and, you can't reduce demand, either. so, you can't adjust the supply. as costs are always the same, conserving energy just creates debt that needs to be recouped over the next season.
what, then, does it mean to say that there are market rates? it means to say that the producers can arbitrarily rip you off. there can't actually be a market - because there can't be any real adjustment.
if you live in ontario, and you're just cluing into this now, you should be absolutely livid - because they've been pushing this down on us for twenty years. they told us it would decrease costs. now, many people understood. many people tried to explain. but, the argument has constantly been lost...
the solution is that we need to cut our losses and renationalize the grid - and make sure we're not so foolish as to fall for these scam artists a second time.
in the mean time? waste as much electricity as you want. it's clean. it's renewable. and, we literally can't get rid of it fast enough. and, get an electric car, already! the system is there for it. you're supposed to be tapping into it.
short of nationalization, the only way that rates will stop hiking every few months is if the utility companies can actually sell enough electricity to generate a profit.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/hydro-rates-hike-ontario-energy-board-1.3536062