Ontarians may see gas bills cut as program winds down

Ontario’s biggest natural gas distributors are halting activities related to the provincial carbon-pricing program dismantled by Premier Doug Ford, a move that could cut costs for both the companies and their customers.

The Ontario Energy Board, which regulates the province’s electricity and natural gas industries, issued an order on July 6 asking Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc., Union Gas Ltd. and Epcor Natural Gas Ltd. Partnership to confirm by Friday “that they have ceased cap and trade activities.”

Both Enbridge Gas Distribution and Union Gas are owned by Calgarybased Enbridge Inc.

The order from the OEB followed Ontario’s recently installed Progressive Conservative government announcement July 3 that it had revoked the province’s cap-and-trade regulation and would begin “an orderly wind-down” of the variety of green programs funded by the carbon-pricing system.

Another regulation filed on the same day states that “no registered participant (of the cap-and-trade system) shall, on and after the day this regulation comes into force, purchase, sell, trade or otherwise deal with emission allowances and credits.”

The gas companies are registered participants in the cap-and-trade program.

“Union confirms that it has been in compliance with Ontario Regulation 386/18, prohibition against the purchase, sale and other dealings with emission allowances and credits, since it was issued on July 3, 2018,” Union Gas said in a July 12 letter to the OEB. Epcor also confirmed it had ceased cap-and-trade activities in compliance with the new regulations.

Also called off by the OEB was a nearly completed review of the utilities’ projected costs of complying with cap-and-trade in 2018.

Businesses have been seeking answers since the Ford government decided to end Ontario’s cap-andtrade system. Under capand-trade, the province’s largest producers of carbon emissions had to buy permits for those emissions.

“Cancelling the cap-andtrade carbon tax will result in lower prices at the gas pump, on your home heating bills and on virtually every other product that you buy,” Ford said in a press release.

Ontario had raised about $2.9 billion in proceeds from the cap-and-trade system’s allowance auctions before the election, although the carbon-pricing plan’s cancellation has put a number of related programs in jeopardy.

“The government made a clear election platform commitment to end the cap and trade program; the regulation effectively ends the program,” said the notice posted to Ontario’s environmental registry.

But the program is being ended after a lot of money was spent meeting its obligations, and it’s unclear how, or if, firms will be reimbursed for the costs.