Pasma: A way to help with extended power outages during severe weather

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As our city experiences more severe storms due to climate change, Ottawa residents are getting used to spending multiple days in the dark.

Last Easter, a surprise April ice storm took out power for more than 170,000 residents, many of them waiting over the long weekend to have Hydro restored. A thunder storm in July required multiple days to clean up, leaving more than 37,000 people without electricity. A tornado that same month knocked out power to 1,600 homes in Barrhaven. And that was just 2023.

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These lengthy outages are challenging for residents to live through. I’ve heard from many people on fixed incomes who are deeply upset at having to throw out a fridge or freezer-worth of food every time this happens, knowing they can’t afford to replace it. Seniors and people with disabilities who live in multi-story apartment or condo buildings have been trapped in their own homes, without access to food, water or medical care. Those who need lifesaving devices have struggled to find power sources.

We’ve been incredibly lucky that so far each of these storms has been followed by reasonably temperate weather. It’s only a matter of time until we have a period of freezing cold or severe heat while the power is out, putting lives at risk and increasing the scale of the emergency response required.

Every time one of these power outages happens, the city has to spend resources on wellness checks, evacuations, emergency response and community respite centres where folks can find hot food, a shower and a place to charge devices. These outages are not just costly for individuals; they affect Ottawa’s bottom line too.

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What if there were a way to address the perils of power outages while also fighting climate change and making life more affordable?

That’s the path that was laid out by the proposed Bill 172, the Affordable Energy Act. This legislation, which I was proud to co-sponsor, would have created a new public agency called Affordable Energy Ontario. But the Doug Ford government didn’t support it.

It’s still a good idea. Affordable Energy Ontario would have a mandate to do two things: support deep retrofits to homes and buildings across Ontario; and oversee the creation of community sources of energy, known by the technical name of “distributed energy resources.”

Deep retrofits help to reduce the amount of electricity required to power a home. This has the benefit of lowering your Hydro bills while also reducing demand for the power grid.

Meanwhile, community sources of energy, such as solar panels on roofs or over parking lots, provide a cost-effective, stable source of energy that can provide energy credits to the owner(s), further reducing their bills, while also providing more power to the grid.

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A recent report by Dunsky for Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator concluded that these kinds of energy sources could meet all new demand in Ontario in a cost-effective manner. And just last month, Nova Scotia introduced its own Community Solar Program.

Having these community sources of energy also means that many homes and communities would have a local power supply that could power their homes when the grid was down. This might not be enough power to run every electronic device in your home, but enough to keep you warm and keep the lights and the fridge on.

The Conservatives deferred until Monday a recorded vote on the Affordable Energy Act, but they don’t support it. However, I truly believe this plan for more affordable, climate-friendly, and resilient electricity in Ontario represents the path forward for Ontario. I hope the government will take another look at it.

Chandra Pasma is the MPP for Ottawa West-Nepean.

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