If you buy in February you will receive a free squirrel guard
By
Mark Schadenberg
I
received my everyone-wins you-can’t-lose lottery ticket in the mail today.
I
was hoping the provincial government was going to suspend all lopsided hydro deals
that were in existence. Stop them NOW!
It’s
interesting how the federal government can give all potential home buyers about
six weeks notice that the CMHC charts are changing for high-ratio mortgages,
but citizens of Ontario continue to see solar projects getting doled out like
candy on the eve of Oct. 31.
The
flyer in my mail was from SunFlow Solar and states this is the last year as a home
owner that I can advantage of the MicroFIT contract.
When
I was in high school some 35 years ago I recall teachers talking about a future
with solar power – heat and electricity. All beliefs at that point were as soon
as the technology became affordable for consumers, everyone would have solar
panels to hopefully live off the electricity grid, and possibly supply some
extra hydro to the grid and receive a small modest stipend for your efforts.
Move
forward three decades or more, and we have solar farms, municipal and
institutional buildings with solar panels, and naturally countless houses with
the ability to create electricity thanks to that ball of fire in the sky.
As
someone who believes to be an environmentalist I think that’s great – terrific and
awesome. However, the MicroFIT program has increased hydro rates for the
consumer exponentially as the province creates far more hydro than we need and
then we sell it to New York and Michigan (Quebec, Manitoba and elsewhere too) for
less than what it costs to produce. My math is right and the province’s math is
wrong and the loser then becomes ‘all’ consumers in Ontario, and most certainly
the folks who have a house that does not face the sun in the right direction.
Since
our manufacturing sector is struggling with the skyrocketing hydro rates, why
are we giving a double advantage to the industries of Michigan and New York as
they can build cars by using the cheap hydro we’re selling them for less than
20 cents on the dollar.
Can
this MicroFIT system not be stopped today?
The
flyer describes the SunFlow Solar company as having a low-risk investment opportunity
and that if you sign on sometime in 2017 you will have a signed contract for 20
years. As a Realtor I’m sure that the remaining time on any contract would stay
with the house if you were to move, and that carrot-on-a-stick for a future
buyer (Is green for cash and orange for sunshine) should increase the value of
your home.
This solar panel is behind the Woodstock District Community Complex,
so I certainly understand that cities and many institutional buildings
reap benefits from creating some solar power for their own use.
I
love solar power, but the current system is wrong.
It
was estimated that the province lost well over $1 billion in 2016 as it was
selling excess hydro for more than it cost to create, and it’s not a slim margin
of nickels and dimes per kilowatt hour. Read the links to Toronto Star and Toronto
Sun (somewhat ironic name) stories below.
By
the way, we’re talking about all electricity in a bulging grid – solar, wind
power, nuclear, hydro-electric dams. . .
In
2013 alone, through this hydro export deficit, all Ontario tax payers were
required to pay $220 each.
I’m
guessing Ontario should triple its rates for selling electricity as an export,
and at the same time chop chop chop on what it is paying for hydro creation,
but that’s where the tree fall on the highway as the province has 20-year
contracts with its suppliers and there is no paper shredder for those contracts.
I
love electric cars and they too were always discussed as a possibility when I
was a high school student in the early 1980’s.
I
ask . . .
Can
this MicroFIT system not be stopped today?
The cardboard flyer also describes three more points worth noting. If you book your installation
project in February, you will receive free squirrel guards. You could reduce
your own hydro bill up to 75 per cent. Also, the leaflet notes about 50,000
Ontario home owners are already earning an income from solar panels.
I
don’t want to receive negative comments from posting my prose on this program
as I think solar power is terrific (I can be quite repetitive to present my
thoughts), and the possibility of some incentives are terrific for home owners,
but does the overall mathematics make sense? Nope!
The
MicroFIT website presents a lot more material on the subject, including videos.
The
concept of windmills or wind power can be discussed on another day.
Proposed Solar Farm for a brownfield lot on Tecumseh Street,
which is a project presented to Woodstock City Council last autumn
LINKS:
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All items on this blog site are written by:
Mark Schadenberg, Sales
Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist
(SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty
Independently Owned & Operated, Brokerage
757 Dundas St, Woodstock
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter: markroyallepage
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . .
Destination
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