Solar Energy Policy Change

The Broken Energy Industry
in Ontario and Canada

Follow the money:

On it’s surface, the long term effects of a deeply cynical 2018 Provincial Government Policy is not "major news" when compared with everything else that is going on right now...

Below the surface however, is an incompetent Government that does not have an appreciation or understanding of Science & Technology, as illustrated by the destuction of the Ontario Science Center, and for deliberately - or just from sheer inaction; has dragged down the Energy Industry with outdated Regulations to where Ontario and Canada are now years behind the rest of the world. Follow the money:

Fact: the Ford Ontario Government forces the Ontario Utility Companies like Toronto Hydro to annually seize any money owed and all the power you generate; over and above the power you personally use to live. This one fact has ended investment and development in net metered solar and wind production across Ontario, since 2018.

That means when you intentionally build any capture system to conserve power and use less than you generate, all that extra power and the money Credited to your Hydro Bill is stolen by the Ford Government using their Subsection 8 of Ontario Regulation 541/05 Net Metering Policy - an existing Regulation that Ford silently passed in 2018 and continues to penalize anyone in Ontario who generate any more energy than they consume.

This substantial financial deterrent is a highly impactful, large scale impediment to the renewable energy sector that most people know nothing about, and only a few politicians can decide to delete it...

The tired politics of being over taxed and over regulated is still all exactly the same now as it was in 2018, but the Technolgy itself has changed massively since then, and that fact can’t be ignored anymore; how fast Technolgy has meaningfully changed and improved over the intervening years is staggering. (see the References below).

Yes; Doug's 2018 Policy impacts me directly and negatively, but this is far more impactful on the young people who would otherwise be inspired to actively reduce the money they also pay out in Hydro Bills, if Doug's restrictive Policy was completely deleted and replaced with something so intentionally simple; that it can’t easily be “gamed”...

I have written this page to draw attention to, and highlight the long term mistake that the Ford Government has made by having implemented such a deeply cynical Policy - one that is actively holding back the people and an entire Energy Technology Sector from a much more sustainable, reliable and redundant electicity grid.

The only “Ask” of this web page is super easy: delete Doug's 2018 Policy - get rid of it - stop the theft. Even if nothing else changed; just stopping this entirely bureaucratic limitation would be a really good start.

If the human experience was ideal; every household, every building would have some form of current energy generation & capture technology baked into each structure as a default building code. The solar, wind and battery technology to do that is available now, but Ontario is nowhere near to the “ideal” of enabling energy independence for the Individual and toward a more Diverified Hybrid Grid.

Please consider my direct experience below, and multiply my experience by thousands or millions of people in Ontario and Canada, and imagine that instead of our current uninspired reality, there was no Government interference in the direct form of outdated and cynical policies that stalls innovation, and the people gradually realized that they really do have a completely viable option to lower their ever increasing energy costs - one that can last for many years, and they can manage it all from anywhere with just an app on their phone…

My Personal Experience

In 2019, I naively believed that installing solar panels was simple: connect to Toronto Hydro’s new two way Net Meter and generate / contribute whatever I could to the Ontario grid.

It works perfectly. My solar array consistently generates more than 10 megawatt-hours of electricity each year. Eventually, as designed, it began producing more electricity than I consumed, creating a reliable surplus credit on my Toronto Hydro bills - but one that has never actually been paid...

Consider the reverse situation: if I owed Toronto Hydro hundreds of dollars every month for years, how long would that debt be allowed to accumulate?

My solar generation has a predictable, self-sustaining seasonal cycle. I build up Credits during the summer, when the sun is high and my panels generate more electricity than I need, and then consistently draw those Credits down through the darker winter months. The pattern repeats year after year. Nothing is broken. Nothing needs to be changed. It works; a self sustaining system that works exactly as intended.

But then I was forced to learn about a 2018 Doug Ford Government Net Metering Policy, one that never even came up while I was building my solar array...

A Problem in the Works...

In the beginning I would repeatedly call Toronto Hydro every month with a simple question:

“Why do I never get paid for the surplus electricity on my monthly Bill, energy that I’m supplying to the grid?”

The call-centre representatives were confused. They agreed that the situation was unusual, as they had never encountered a customer who remained in a sustained surplus-credit position. My questions were repeatedly passed “upstairs,” and it took more than a year to receive a meaningful explanation;

Eventually, someone at Toronto Hydro sent an anonymous email that directed me to an old Regulation deep in the Ontario Government website: Subsection 8 of Ontario Regulation 541/05 Net Metering.

This was a Policy meant for what was going on in 2018 that is no longer relevant in 2026.

In effect, Ford's Policy states: that if you spend your own money on wind and solar equipment, and it generates power for the Ontario Grid, you are only allowed to generate as much power as you personally use, but any excess power and the money you are owed for that power, again; over your own personal use: the Ford Government forces Toronto Hydro to appropriate your power and literally zero's out the Credit that is owed, every year. Fact.

That is when I discovered that this was not really a Toronto Hydro decision at all. The Utility and all Utilities across Ontario are required to operate within Ontario’s existing Regulatory framework, including the deliberate Restrictions introduced in 2018.

In other words, I or a Company can spend their own money installing awesome equipment that reliably produces electricity for Ontario's grid, but the existing government regulations prevent anyone from receiving the full value of what they generate. Today; the majority of everyone in Ontario and Canada don’t even think about it, let alone know about this intentional, artificial limitation...

There is no recourse, or any opportunity to apply your Toronto Hydro Credits earned to the original cost of your equipment. The technology available today can produce substantially more electricity at a far lower cost than what was available when I made my original investment.

A Policy That No Longer Fits the Technology

My experience points to a larger problem.

The Government Policy created in 2018 was designed for the energy conditions and technology of that time. It is now 2026 and solar technology has become dramatically more efficient, equipment costs have fallen sharply, battery storage has advanced beyond rare minerals, and Ontario's electricity needs have changed dramatically with the increasing occurrence of extreme weather, where power is down for days...

Governments encourage people to invest privately in renewable generation, reduce their dependence on the grid and produce clean electricity. Yet when increasingly efficient equipment allows anyone to generate a genuine surplus, the existing financial framework cynically eliminates any incentive to do so.

Ontario needs more electricity. So why maintain rules that discourage individuals from generating more of it? The current system effectively imposes an artificial ceiling on personal generation. That discourages larger installations, private investment and household energy independence.

I also witnessed the hard consequences of this old Policy from another perspective...

By 2019 an entire small industry sector of energy sales, technical expertise and installation jobs disappeared almost overnight. At the time, many people I spoke with were actively going out of business but could not clearly explain why their market had totally collapsed. I eventually came to understand that the Ontario Government's Regulatory environment is unfortunately the major part of this story.

Why So Few People Challenge It

My situation is unusual. Most Hydro customers do not have solar or wind generating systems in the first place. Of the the few that do, only 2% of those Toronto Hydro customers generate more electricity than they consume. Most solar customers never accumulate any surplus credits to encounter the issue directly. Consequently, there is little public pressure to question what happens to those Credits when they expire and helps explain why the overall problem can remain largely invisible to most.

Ontario's outdated Regulatory system can therefore persist simply because relatively few people encounter its consequences closely enough to challenge Toronto Hydro, the Ontario Energy Board and the Provincial Government...

I eventually recognized that Ontario does not have a technology problem at all. It has yet another Policy and Regulation problem that needs to be deleted and replaced with a deliberately simple Alternative that matches the current reality with today’s tech:

Equal-Parity Billing.

Ontario should modernize Subsection 8 of Ontario Regulation 541/05 and replace the current restrictive credit system with a transparent model of Equal-Parity Billing.

The principle is straightforward:

- Customers pay the publicly posted Time-of-Use rate for electricity they consume.
- Customers receive that same publicly posted rate for electricity they contribute to the grid.
- Surplus generation is paid rather than lost through expiring credits.
- Income from personal electricity generation could be made tax-exempt to encourage voluntary, subsidy-free investment.

The underlying Rule is simple: Electricity should have the same transparent value regardless of which direction it flows.

No arbitrary credit limits.
No annual expiration.
No complicated exceptions - none at all.
No hidden financial restrictions.

This would not be another government subsidy that can be manipulated or “gamed” by those who understand the system best. It would be a transparent, market-based arrangement: people invest their own money in their own generation equipment and receive the same publicly posted rate for the electricity they supply that they pay when they consume it.

That one simple rule would apply to everyone.

Let Ontarians Help Build the Grid

Ontario needs additional generation and greater grid resilience as electricity demand grows and extreme weather places increasing pressure on infrastructure.

Thousands, or eventually millions of privately owned solar, battery and other generation systems could collectively create a significant layer of decentralized and redundant capacity.

Instead of treating homeowners solely as passive consumers, Ontario could allow them to become active participants in building the electricity system.

That could mean:
- more private investment;
- greater household control over energy costs;
- more distributed generation;
- greater grid resilience;
- more consumer awareness of real-time electricity use; and
- less reliance on large government subsidy programs or additional public debt.

There is also a new generation of technologically capable consumers who are looking for practical ways to reduce their actual daily cost of living. Modern energy-monitoring apps already make electricity consumption visible in real time. Once people can actually see how much electricity they are using, producing, wasting or contributing, energy becomes something they can actively manage rather than paying another monthly bill.

That is the massive opportunity Ontario has been completely missing, since 2018.

Doug Ford Has an Opportunity to Revisit His Own Policy

The restrictions introduced under the Doug Ford government in 2018 may have been intended to address legitimate problems that existed at the time. But policies have to evolve when circumstances change.

It is now 2026. Technology has changed. Equipment costs have changed. Ontario's electricity requirements have changed. Ontario does not need to choose between fiscal responsibility and energy innovation. It can pursue both.

The obvious first step is to remove outdated financial restrictions and replace them with simple, transparent Equal-Parity Billing.

Let the people in Ontario invest in their own energy future.

One individual cannot transform Ontario's electricity system. But thousands—or millions—of individuals making relatively small investments in generation, storage and overall efficiency can collectively make a significant difference.

After seven years of trying to understand and eventually challenge the existing system, my conclusion is that the greatest obstacle is not the technology.

The obstacle is our willingness to accept outdated rules simply because changing them is so incredibly difficult - even when they are obvious.

Ontario really should be capable of doing so much better...

Canada Also Needs a Hybrid Energy Strategy

Finally, this discussion should not be reduced to solar versus natural gas, or one technology versus another. Canada needs a practical hybrid energy strategy.

Heat pumps can work extremely well during the spring, summer and fall, but during the darkest and coldest months of a Canadian winter, high-efficiency natural-gas furnaces remain extremely effective at providing reliable heat.

The same principle applies to electricity generation: Ontario should use every practical technology available to improve reliability, affordability and resilience.

The goal should not be technological purity. The goal should be a modern, resilient and economically sustainable energy system in which individuals, businesses and government can all contribute meaningfully toward a mutually beneficial goal.

Recap

Canada Needs to Stop Holding Its Energy Future Back

Ontario and Canada as a whole, has fallen far behind much of the world in deploying modern energy technologies.

While countries like China are adding enormous amounts of renewable generation - reportedly expanding by an amount comparable to Germany's entire grid every year, Canada remains constrained by short-sighted politics and outdated Policies that directly discourage investing in private energy production.

In Australia there is now free electricity in some areas as there is so much solar generation. There are many days where the grid is running at about 80% of supply from wind and solar during the day. There has been a boom in home batteries to soak up excess solar. Installation rates of wind and solar in Texas is second only to China. All across the world the transition to non fossil fuel based electricity is underway and it won't be turned back.

The problem is no longer simply a lack of affordable technology. Much of the technology we need has existed and improved over the years. The bigger problem is Government Policy, Regulatory delay, and a complete lack of urgency while extreme storms, flooding and other climate-related pressures continue to incrementally increase all over the world. The problem is real.

Change should have happened long ago. Yet, based on the explanations I have repeatedly received, meaningful change ultimately appears to require direct action from the Ontario Provincial Government and specifically: Doug Ford himself. The people who run Toronto Hydro and the Ontario Energy Board seem to be completely incapable of any kind of change to the Government's Policy.

Standardize Energy Integration

Solar panels, wind generation, batteries, smart inverters, heat pumps, EV chargers and modern net-metering equipment should become standard components of new-home construction and major renovations.

Plumbing and HVAC are already treated as fundamental elements of modern Canadian housing. Distributed energy infrastructure should be treated similarly.

New buildings should be designed from their beginning with the capacity to:

- Generate electricity;
- Store electricity;
- Manage electricity intelligently;
- Use energy efficiently; and
- Contribute electricity back to the grid.

This would make energy production and management part of the basic architecture of any building rather than an expensive afterthought.

Replace the Outdated 2018 Policy with Equal-Parity Billing

Ontario should eliminate the outdated financial restrictions created by the existing system and replace them with Equal-Parity Billing.

The principle is simple:

If a customer buys electricity from the grid at a publicly posted rate, electricity that same customer supplies back to the grid should receive the same publicly posted rate.

- No complicated formulas.
- No arbitrary credit limits.
- No expiring credits.
- No hidden clawbacks.
- No exceptions ! None.
- Trusted by all; because it is so clearly Transparent.

One unit of electricity should have the same transparent value regardless of which direction it flows.

A system this simple would be easy for ordinary consumers to understand, difficult to manipulate through complicated rules, and capable of creating a direct financial incentive for private individual investment.

Most importantly, it would give individuals greater autonomy over their own energy costs.

Teach Energy Consumers to become Energy Producers

Government should remove unnecessary financial barriers to personal micro energy generation - including all taxation that discourages small-scale generation and to instead encourage micro-generation, energy efficiency and storage through modern building standards.

The objective is not to create yet another government subsidy program. It is to remove the Policy barriers that prevent Canadians from investing their own money in their own energy infrastructure.

Thousands (and eventually millions) of individually owned solar, wind, battery and efficiency systems can collectively provide a significant new layer of distributed capacity. During extreme weather and periods of peak demand, that decentralized capacity could help reduce the pressure on our centralized infrastructure and provide additional resilience and redundancy.

Energy Independence Starts at Home

Policy reform also needs to be accompanied by Public Education, inspired in public spaces like the Ontario Science Center.

Canadians should learn to understand how modern energy technologies can reduce household costs while simultaneously contributing to a stronger and more resilient shared electricity system.

The goal should be straightforward: Give Canadians the ability and autonomous control to reduce their ongoing utility costs and become active participants in building the energy systems of today and tomorrow.

Canadians do not need Government bureaucracy to finance every additional megawatt of generation. Government can instead create simple, predictable and broadly accessible policies that enable millions of individual investments to build energy capacity from the ground up.

That means less dependence on centralized infrastructure, greater redundancy and resilience, increased private investment, and ultimately greater Canadian energy independence and sovereignty. 🇨🇦

The technology is advancing rapidly - with or without us.

Solar generation is becoming ever more efficient. Batteries are becoming more capable. Smart inverters, energy-management systems, heat pumps and EV infrastructure is becoming increasingly integrated and accessible by just an App or Widget on a basic mobile phone.

The opportunity is no longer theoretical.; once you clearly see how these technologies can work together, you can't unsee the many possibilities...

Canada does not need to wait for some distant technological breakthrough.

It needs Governments and Regulators to catch up with the technology that already exists - and create policies that allow Canadians to participate in building the energy future themselves.

The future of energy is relentlessly moving forward.

Canada’s politicians need to stop holding it back with their outdated Policies and Regulations.