"The average market price for electricity in Ontario is at its lowest level since the market was opened up in 2002.  But customers are not reaping the benefits of lower prices because the government is recovering the cost of new projects from power users.

The government is luring green-energy investors with the promise of generous long-term contracts that include a guaranteed revenue stream. Every time a new deal is inked with a gas-fired plant, a wind farm or solar-panel manufacturer, the costs go up for customers. During several months last year, rates for large industrial users jumped nearly 20 per cent. The question emerging is whether this is politically sustainable.

Electricity consumers pay for these contracts through what is called a global adjustment - which covers the difference between the market price for electricity and the rates paid to companies under the guaranteed revenue contracts. As the market price falls, the global adjustment rises. The global adjustment averaged 2.91 cents a kilowatt hour in 2009, on top of 3.16 cents for the electricity itself.

For most residential consumers, the cost of the global adjustment is hidden because it is rolled into the electricity rate set by the province's energy regulator, one that has risen only modestly in recent years. 

WHAT IT COSTS

3.16¢   - Average market price of electricity in Ontario last year, per kilowatt hour

2.91¢   - Average "adjustment" added by the province

4.5¢     - Average rate the province paid government-owned Ontario Power Generation for   most of its output

13.5¢   - Rate for power from on-shore wind farms

10.4-19.5¢       - Rate for biogas plants

44.3-80.2¢       - Rate for solar power"