End of cap and trade kills hospitals’ energy program

A $64-million program that was helping cash-strapped hospitals save millions on electricity bills is among the provincial programs that have been cut as a result of the scrapping of cap and trade in Ontario.

The Hospital Energy Efficiency Program paid out $64 million to Ontario hospitals in 2017-18 for projects such as motion-activated light sensors that meant lights didn’t have to be left on in storage and other rooms when not in use.

NDP health critic France Gélinas says the program was a boon to smaller hospitals in particular, many of which are facing deficits and couldn’t afford to put money into work that would help reduce their rising energy bills.

“The program was extremely popular,” said Gelinas. “They got way more requests than they were able to fund.” Applications had already been made by hospitals for the 2018-19 program, which has now been cut.

In recent years, Gelinas said, she has heard from as many as half of the province’s 152 hospitals with serious concerns about increasing electricity costs.

Fourteen hospitals in Eastern Ontario’s Champlain LHIN received a total of $3.6 million through the program, says a spokeswoman for the LHIN. The money was used to replace and retrofit heating and air conditioning, lighting and refrigeration systems, said communications officer Linda Ramsey. Among local projects, The Ottawa Hospital received $80,000 to replace light fixtures.

Ontario Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford ran for election on a promise to scrap cap and trade. Programs funded through the proceeds of cap and trade, including the Hospital Energy Efficiency Program, were cut as a result of the move.

Cap and trade accounted for $1.9 billion in revenue last year, which was invested in programs to reduce emissions and help organizations and individuals adapt to a low-carbon economy. Among other casualties of the cuts was a $100-million program to help the province’s schools undertake renovations aimed at reducing energy costs.

The City of Ottawa, like other municipalities, had counted on millions in cap-and-trade dollars for energy improvements to social housing infrastructure. The city’s housing services corporation was slated to receive $1.79 million through the GreenOn program that promoted energy efficient retrofits for social housing.

To date, it has received about half of the funds, according a spokesperson. Under the province’s Social Housing Apartment Improvement Program, also funded under cap and trade, the city was to receive $47 million between 2017 and 2021 to retrofit apartments. So far, it has received $22.5 million, which has gone to the Ottawa Community Housing Corp.

Hospitals, meanwhile, are worried about what comes next, Gelinas said.

Gelinas said she has heard from small hospitals in the province saying they have not been getting their two-per-cent budget increases after signing accountability agreements. A spokesman for the Ministry of Health, however, said there has been no delay in dispersing that two-per-cent increase to small hospitals.

“Funding is dispersed over 24 payments over the fiscal year. The small hospitals would receive a certain portion of the two-percent increase within each payment,” said ministry spokesman David Jensen.

The review of the province’s books by former British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell, which is due to wrap up at the end of August, is likely to affect hospitals, Gelinas said, noting they account for $24 billion of the $136-billion provincial budget.

“All of them are holding their collective breaths. Stay put for more to come.”

A spokesman for the Ministry of Health said, “All programs are currently being reviewed by the new government.”