Today, let’s examine how much the Kathleen Wynne and Dalton McGuinty governments have cost Ontarians with their reckless pursuit of expensive, unreliable and unneeded green energy.

Last week, Tory MPP Vic Fedeli accused the Liberals of wasting $1.5 billion by not walking away in 2013 from their disastrous 2010 green energy deal with South Korea’s Samsung corporation.

A spokesman for Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli countered the government saved taxpayers $3.7 billion by renegotiating the deal, adding, “we’ve built a strong track record in renewable energy.”

This boast is nonsense.

The Liberal record on green energy has been a financial train wreck, as documented by the non-partisan Ontario auditor general.

Also in 2013, for example, auditor general Bonnie Lysyk, completing work begun by her predecessor, Jim McCarter, pegged the total cost of McGuinty’s 2011 decision to cancel the politically unpopular Oakville and Mississauga gas plants — planned in part to back up unreliable wind power — at $1.1 billion.

In 2014, Lysyk found the Liberals underestimated the cost of installing smart meters by $900 million, while overestimating savings by $512 million, wasting $1.4 billion.

In 2015 Lysyk, completing another assessment started by McCarter in 2011, reported the Liberals overpaid $9.2 billion for wind and solar power, while ignoring advice from their own experts that would have reduced costs. Ontarians now pay twice the U.S. average for wind power, 3.5 times for solar.

While Ontario has enough surplus electricity to power Manitoba, the Liberals keep adding wind and solar power to the grid. As a result, Ontarians paid $3.4 billion between 2009 and 2014 for electricity they didn’t need, or for it not to be produced.

Also in 2015, Lysyk concluded poor decision-making and political interference by the Liberals cost Ontarians $37 billion in payments above the market price for electricity from 2006 to 2014, and will cost another $133 billion from 2015 to 2032.

“Instead of following the legislated process (for drafting and approving a long-term technical plan for Ontario’s electricity system),” Lysyk wrote, “the Ministry of Energy itself effectively assumed responsibility for electricity planning ... Ontario electricity ratepayers have had to pay billions for these decisions.”

The impact on electricity rates has been devastating, rising 80% between 2004 and 2014, with no end in sight.

The Liberals argue much of that was needed to upgrade Ontario’s grid, but Lysyk found they’ve failed to maintain the system, it’s getting worse and costs are rising.

That doesn’t factor in added costs Ontarians will face starting Jan. 1 under the Liberals’ cap-and-trade carbon pricing scheme — $387 annually per household to start, according to their own numbers, although they claim it will be $156.

As for the Liberals’ justification for their green strategy — ending Ontario’s use of coal-fired electricity — they did that with nuclear and gas power, not wind and solar.

On the bright side, Al Gore says the Liberals have done a great job.

Of course, he’s not paying for it.

lgoldstein@postmedia.com