Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce says that cap and trade related costs should be a separate line item on utility bills

The Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) recently sent a letter to the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) regarding their decision to have cap and trade costs included in the delivery charge of utilities.

Although the chamber supports efforts to deal with climate change, the chamber contends that cap and trade related costs should be a separate line item on utility bills in order to provide greater transparency and visible price signals to customers.

As a separate line item on the utility bill, it will allow customers to easily compare their month to month emissions costs, emphasizing the value of reducing their usage. This same practice of separating the carbon charge has been implemented in other Canadian jurisdictions (Québec and British Columbia) for the same reasons of transparency and encouraging demand response.

“Consumers should know how much of the charges on their bills comes as a result of cap and trade.  It’s about transparency,” said Tracy Nutt, Chair of the Board, Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce.

Given the Premier’s commitment to transparency around energy pricing, the chamber believes that the OEB should reverse their decision and align with other Canadian jurisdictions on this issue.

Ontario’s cap-and-trade program is set to come into effect on January 1st, 2017.

Read this letter here.

To obtain additional information, please contact:

Joyce Mankarios

Policy and Public Relations Manager

Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce

705-673-7133 ext. 224

c: 705-677-5735

[email protected]