Ontario changes regulations on who pays to upgrade power lines (CBC News Thunder Bay – April 15, 2019)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

Changes approved by the Ontario Energy Board could make upgrades to power lines across the province cheaper for industries setting up shop in far-flung parts of the province.

The OEB recently overhauled the rules on who pays for the upgrades to power lines. Previously, if industry required a line to be upgraded, it would bear the full cost of the upgrade. Now, a company only has to pay a portion of the upgrade.

Iain Angus, the co-chair of the energy task force with Common Voice Northwest, said one example is an upgrade needed on the power line to Greenstone.

If a new gold mine required an additional $25 million in upgrades to the line while the line itself needed $100 million in upgrades or work, under the old system, the company would be on the hook for the total $125 million cost.

Now, the company would only be responsible for its portion of the upgrade, or would have to pay $25 million into the project. “It’s how the system was built in the first place,” Angus said.

For the rest of this article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/ontario-power-line-upgrade-charges-1.5094764