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Selling off Hydro

My bad miss communication...

As i said end-user price caps need to be in place.

Perhaps kick backs?
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the 407 deal was a 99 year lease. The other part of that screw-up is some of the clauses. The government can't do anything that would affect profit, ie control rates or permit another highway.

If the 407 consortium can charge what it wants why would the government lease off that cash cow instead of keeping the money for itself?

Ontario still owns the highway. Only the operation of the highway was leased out for 99 years in exchange for 407ETR paying Ontario twice what it cost Ontario to build the highway. In exchange for the profits on road tolls, 407ETR is now responsible for all the maintenance and expansion costs of the 407 west of Brock Road. The new stretch of the 407 east of Brock will be operated and maintained by the province. 407ETR will be still contracted to doing the billing services for that stretch, but the toll rates will be set by the province and the province says that they will be lower than for the 407ETR-operated part of the highway.

On the part it does operate, 407ETR is permitted to raise rates as long as traffic counts continue to increase. If the highway chokes to a crawl and traffic counts stall, so do the toll rates. This provides incentive for 407ETR to continue adding to highway capacity. Added highway capacity means greater traffic-bearing capability, which means higher traffic counts, which enables 407ETR to continue rate increases.

Of course if they raise the rates too high, drivers will migrate to other routes. That gives 407ETR counter-incentive to keep rates reasonable and at what the traffic will bear.
 
rise in traffic is not dependent on 407 increases.. every year we have more and more cars on the road.. as long as people are willing to pay to circumvent 401/404/400 etc this trend will continue which means... hikes...
 
My bad miss communication...

As i said end-user price caps need to be in place.

Perhaps kick backs?

The Ontario Energy Board would still remain in place along with substantial Ontario government ownership in the distribution system. If private enterprise can do the job more efficiently and react to changes in technology and needs than government can (and they often can), privatization might be a good thing.
 
rise in traffic is not dependent on 407 increases.. every year we have more and more cars on the road.. as long as people are willing to pay to circumvent 401/404/400 etc this trend will continue which means... hikes...

That's right - if we are willing to pay and traffic counts keep rising as a result of our willingness to pay to avoid congestion, and 407 can keep growing capacity to minimize congestion, 407 can keep increasing rates until they hit that equilibrium point.
 
That's right - if we are willing to pay and traffic counts keep rising as a result of our willingness to pay to avoid congestion, and 407 can keep growing capacity to minimize congestion, 407 can keep increasing rates until they hit that equilibrium point.
Which is never cause population keeps increasing. Along with drivers on the road...they dont even have to expand... just avoid congestion

Price equilibrium can be achieved today by jacking up prices to a point of max revenue untill they reach a Draw down.. not on users but total revenue....
Keep jacking prices no need for investment. ..
 
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The Ontario Energy Board would still remain in place along with substantial Ontario government ownership in the distribution system. If private enterprise can do the job more efficiently and react to changes in technology and needs than government can (and they often can), privatization might be a good thing.

Private companies doing public projects are the tail that wags the dog. This is on record. The strategy is to get locked in on the project at a certain bid. And then the games begin. This was all explained on The Agenda with Steve Paikin.
 
The Ontario Energy Board would still remain in place along with substantial Ontario government ownership in the distribution system. If private enterprise can do the job more efficiently and react to changes in technology and needs than government can (and they often can), privatization might be a good thing.
The Queens Park mafia are clever enough to realize if they sell the farm, they don't have to work on the farm. But there will be fat salaries and travel and dinners for appointies to the Energy Board, they will make important decisions for Ontario power and offer guidance for the private sector managers, things like which wine goes with a shrimp cocktail.....
 
Not to derail the discussion....

But with the discussion around the 407
I was just down in NY for the weekend, interesting comparison on tolls. Buffalo to Albany on the I-90 cost me $12.85 (~$16 CDN equivalent) for 270 miles (435 kms)

The 407 doesn't cover the same distance, max distance is 107 kms that would cost you, non peak $28.52

if I did the same distance from the I-90 on the 407, my bill would be about $114. Complete rip off...
 
Not to derail the discussion....

But with the discussion around the 407
I was just down in NY for the weekend, interesting comparison on tolls. Buffalo to Albany on the I-90 cost me $12.85 (~$16 CDN equivalent) for 270 miles (435 kms)

The 407 doesn't cover the same distance, max distance is 107 kms that would cost you, non peak $28.52

if I did the same distance from the I-90 on the 407, my bill would be about $114. Complete rip off...

My typical NY fee is about $2.00. The same distance here works out to $18.00 without a transponder.
 
Damn.....and here I've been ting to get into OPG for so long with no success :( last time they told me I was over qualified to be a nuclear operator! WTF.....I'll dumb it down if need be!
 
Anyone mention that as soon as 1 share is sold publicly there is no more oversight?
http://www.torontosun.com/2015/03/11/privatizing-hydro-one-risks-losing-oversight

There may not be a need for oversight if its run by people that understand business. Hydro one overbilling , bullying and outright lies to customers would most likely not occur in a different business model.
The idea that Ontario Hydro had to be rebranded Hydro One, as provincial business, and the rebranding cost millions, and they pay for advertising at places like Rogers center?? you'll buy electric power where else?? The place has been run by a goof troop. SELL IT.
 
The two opinions voiced seem to be:

Keep it and run it properly.

Sell it because the government is incompetent and will never get it right.

The problem is that the government is so screwed up the chances of them running it right are about nil. In spite of us overpaying civil servants private industry gets the upper hand in contract negotiations. We are doomed.

I like the idea of keeping it. That way when we freeze, penniless in the dark, we will have to accept we did it to ourselves.
 
There may not be a need for oversight if its run by people that understand business. Hydro one overbilling , bullying and outright lies to customers would most likely not occur in a different business model.
The idea that Ontario Hydro had to be rebranded Hydro One, as provincial business, and the rebranding cost millions, and they pay for advertising at places like Rogers center?? you'll buy electric power where else?? The place has been run by a goof troop. SELL IT.
Private companies over bill all the time, look at the cable and phone companies. I think bell even went to court to ***** about getting caught.
 
I love that conservatives who have been going on about the need to privatize Hydro & LCBO for ages are now treating privatization as a crazy idea by a mad premiere.

I'm not a fan of privatization but Hydro has been run so poorly for so many years that I have to think someone can do a better job running it.

On the other hand I think the LCBO is functioning just fine as a money making enterprise that I hope we keep it public and make money.
 
I love that conservatives who have been going on about the need to privatize Hydro & LCBO for ages are now treating privatization as a crazy idea by a mad premiere.

I'm not a fan of privatization but Hydro has been run so poorly for so many years that I have to think someone can do a better job running it.

On the other hand I think the LCBO is functioning just fine as a money making enterprise that I hope we keep it public and make money.

Hydro is so entrenched in it's own BS that the only way we could keep it and fix it would mean contracting out. I'm sure the unions will accept that without a fight. (Not)
 
Hydro is so entrenched in it's own BS that the only way we could keep it and fix it would mean contracting out. I'm sure the unions will accept that without a fight. (Not)

Can't have that sunshine list getting smaller now can we!

I'm sure that the unions will be taken care of no matter who buys it. They'll tighten up that contract so much that they'll get blamed by the new owners for causing rates to go up because 'Look at the salaries we need to pay!' will be a great excuse.

P.S. I'm jealous of their salaries and jobs FYI
 
They'll tighten up that contract so much that they'll get blamed by the new owners for causing rates to go up because 'Look at the salaries we need to pay!' will be a great excuse.

P.S. I'm jealous of their salaries and jobs FYI

I know a corporate lawyer who negotiated the US purchase of a Canadian manufacturer. The union went on strike for more of everything shortly thereafter and the new owners gave them all of it on a silver platter. The CEO's were high fiving each other because they wanted to move the plant to the USA in the first place and the "High manufacturing costs" gave them the excuse they needed a year down the road. Bye bye jobs.

Governmental intervention will prevent any problems with excess charges to the consumer, just like no-fault insurance. (I gag as I type)
 
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I love that conservatives who have been going on about the need to privatize Hydro & LCBO for ages are now treating privatization as a crazy idea by a mad premiere.

I'm not a fan of privatization but Hydro has been run so poorly for so many years that I have to think someone can do a better job running it.

On the other hand I think the LCBO is functioning just fine as a money making enterprise that I hope we keep it public and make money.

Sure, and what were the liberals doing while the conservatives were talking about it?

Who's actually pulling the trigger now? It's the same political b.s. over and over.
 

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