Getting the Deal Through: Electricity Regulation

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Courtesy of Osler. View original article here. 

The electricity markets in Canada, unlike most other states, are regulated primarily at the provincial level and not at the federal level. In this article, which originally appeared in Getting the Deal Through, Richard King, a partner in Osler’s Regulatory, Environmental, Aboriginal and Land Practice Group, outlines the regulation and business of electricity generation, distribution, transmission and supply in Ontario. The topics covered by Richard include:

  • government policy and legislative framework
  • organizational structure of the electricity market
  • authorization to construct and operate generation facilities
  • grid connection policies
  • alternative energy sources such as renewable energies
  • climate change policies
  • electricity storage
  • government policy pertaining to nuclear power plants
  • authorizations to construct and operate transmission networks, eligibility to obtain transmission services, government transmission policy, rates and terms for transmission services
  • entities responsible for grid reliability
  • authorization to construct and operate distribution networks
  • access to the distribution grid
  • government distribution network policy
  • rates and terms for distribution services
  • approval to sell power to customers
  • power sales tariffs
  • rates for wholesale of power
  • public service obligations
  • authorities responsible for determining regulatory policy, and the scope of each regulator’s authority
  • how regulators are established
  • challenge and appeal of decisions
  • which bodies have the authority to approve or block mergers
  • review of transfers of control
  • prevention and prosecution of anticompetitive practices, determination of anticompetitive conduct, preclusion and remedy of anticompetitive practices
  • acquisitions by foreign companies
  • authorization to construct and operate interconnectors
  • interconnector access and cross-border electricity supply
  • restrictions on transactions between electricity utilities and their affiliates
  • enforcements and sanction