Ontario’s Nuclear Rate Shock Reveals a Deeper Affordability Problem - CleanTechnica

The article discusses Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) request to the Ontario Energy Board for a significant increase in regulated nuclear payment amounts, particularly a more than 40% jump in 2027. This increase raises the weighted average regulated payment from about $78/MWh in 2026 to roughly $110/MWh in 2027, driven mainly by the nuclear payment amount nearly doubling from $111/MWh to $207/MWh. However, this does not translate to a 40% increase in typical household electricity bills; OPG estimates an increase of about $8 per month (5.6%) on a typical $142 bill. The difference arises because electricity bills include multiple charges beyond generation, such as transmission and distribution, which do not increase at the same rate. The sharp rise in nuclear payment amounts is primarily due to a planned drop in nuclear output in 2027 caused by refurbishment outages at Darlington and conservative assumptions about Pickering’s availability during life extension. Since nuclear plants