Ontario residents should be able to choose flat rate electricity prices from their local utility, instead of being forced to pay time of use rates, says Conservative leader Tim Hudak.

But energy minister Brad Duguid said Hudak’s energy proposals are unworkable, and would drag the province back into the past.

Hudak told the Ontario Energy Association Thursday that time of use rates should not be the only option for consumers who haven’t signed retail contracts.

Under time of use rates, consumers pay more for electricity during peak use periods, such as mornings and evenings, and pay lower prices on weekends and overnight when demand is moderate.

“Those who can adapt their behaviour should be given a time of use structure that will reward conservation,” he said following the speech

“But for the families who cannot, they should be given the choice at the very least of a flat rate.”

Hudak said the Liberals under Premier Dalton McGuinty are treating all families alike.

“He’s got to give an option to the senior citizen who Dalton McGuinty is lecturing to get up at two in the morning to do her wash, or the shift worker who’s impacted. So offer choice to consumers.”

Energy minister Brad Duguid said running a dual price system is unworkable: “That kind of an option would be very, very difficult for local distribution companies to administer.”

He also noted the government has introduced an energy and property tax relief credit for low income Ontarians hit hard by hydro price increases, granting eligible seniors up to $1,025.

Hudak did not describe how a system with the option of time-of-use rates or flat all-day rates would work for consumers, saying that other jurisdictions like California and Florida have worked out the details.

But at one Florida utility, Gulf Power, the flat rate of 12.6 US cents per kilowatt hour is almost one-third higher than Ontario’s highest time-of-use rate of 9.9 cents Cdn.

“Most customers on (time-of-use) save between 10 and 15 per cent on their annual energy bills,” Gulf Power spokesman Jeff Rogers said from Pensacola. “They save energy 87 per cent of the time.”

The flat rate of 12.6 cents at Gulf Power compares with their time of use prices that begin at 9.2 cents per kWh for off-peak times—almost double Ontario’s 5.3 cents for off-peak between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. weekdays and on weekends -- 10.4 cents for medium peaks, 15 cents for high peak and 35.9 cents for critical periods of extreme demand in a state with high temperatures much of the year and massive demand for air conditioning.

Gulf Power is in the process of installing smart meters for all of its 374,000 customers by 2015.

Ontario’s power rates are headed in the same direction as Florida’s, said New Democrat MPP Howard Hampton, who fingered the Ontario Power Authority as a major factor.

He said the OPA is regularly signing 20-year power contracts with suppliers but has “no accountability or transparency” because it cannot be called before a legislative committee.

In his speech, Hudak slammed the Liberals for using energy policy to promote high cost renewable energy projects.

“Energy policy is about economics,” he said. “Stop treating it like a social program.”

“We cannot continue to pursue green energy policies that unnecessarily drive up the costs for consumers and have punitive impacts on our broader economy.”

Duguid said green energy will create 50,000 jobs.

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“The last time I looked, creating jobs is good economics,” he said. “Kissing those jobs off for short term political gains is bad economics.”

Hudak promised a Conservative government will “move forward immediately” to renew Ontario’s nuclear generating capacity.

He also said he’d give municipalities a voice in saying where new energy facilities can be built.

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