We use electricity like it’s water

Amid the grumbling about the new Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) comes a friendly notice from Hydro One that TOU (Time-of-Use) prices are coming to theatres near us.
Time-of-Use prices are Hydro One's way of promoting a culture of conservation and are a new way to help us all manage our electricity use (and costs).
We can hardly wait.
Time-of-Use pricing is already in effect in other areas and in other parts of the world. This pricing method reduces the price of electricity used in off-peak hours -- usually after 9 p.m. and overnight until 7 a.m.  The idea is that if our population can spread its seemingly unquenchable thirst for electricity to off-hours, we will be able to operate without adding more and more distribution and transmission infrastructure to our existing system.
Between now and 2025, Ontario will need to replace about 80 per cent of its electricity system because it is aging.  Also in the 80 per cent range are the on-peak rates (9.9 cents per kilowatt hour) for TOU pricing as compared to the off-peak pricing (5.5 cents per kilowatt hour).
Hydro One has also announced a delivery rate increase of four per cent per month, which it will add to the total bill for a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours per month.
An additional eight per cent increase was also introduced as of May 2010, due to a pricing adjustment made by the Ontario Energy Board. We should expect another price adjustment this fall, according to the Hydro One Summer 2010 newsletter.
And then there is the HST which replaces the 5 per cent GST in Ontario with a 13 per cent tax.
And then there is a special purpose charge to pay for conservation and renewal energy programs. This charge, which amounts to about $4 per year as of May 1, 2010, will be included in the regulatory charges line on your bill.
It has been common knowledge for years that we have not been paying the true cost of the electricity we use. The same could be said for the way we use water. In fact, we use electricity like it's water.
In other parts of the newsletter, we are encouraged to get rid of energy-hounds like old fridges and appliances. Get new, energy-efficient ones, we are told.
But it would be nice to see what Hydro One and conservation and renewal energy programs are communicating to manufacturers, if they are communicating at all.
While we are encouraged to run computers, televisions and the like off powerbars, that is because even when they are supposedly turned off, they are actually on. What kind of logic is that?
Take a few moments and tour through your home. How many items are turned "off" which are actually still consuming electricity?
We know it is our fault. We worked with manufacturers and ordered up appliances designed with digital clocks and internal systems on hold ready to start up at a moment's notice. It is a must to see the time of day wherever our gaze falls in our homes and offices. The joy is complete when, perhaps due to failing infrastructure, the power fails and we have to reset the time on 34 digital appliances.
It is time to forget sleep mode. Turn everything off, people! But . . . you might want to leave one computer plugged in. As part of Hydro One changes, it has added new options to its customer self-serve website. You can go online to check your electricity usage once you have switched to TOU prices. You can check your account balance, bill payment history . . .  and: inquire about a high bill using the high bill tool link.
Now, do you think that last item is really necessary?