Oh Yeah, This Will Be Popular

TORONTO — Ontario residents trimmed their hydro use this year but people should be forced to pay more to run their appliances to spur further energy savings, the province’s chief conservation officer said Wednesday.

ANd he is right. Later in the article he points out how high gas prices got people starting to rethink vehicle choices. The bottom line is that cost drives what we choose to do all too often.

BUt in a time when this part of the province inststs that high power costs are killing the economy a, totally justified, call for higher prices will not read well.

And can we ever pay the true cost of producing power? What cost gets assessed to changed waterflows, or smokestack emissions, or nuclear waste management? HOw do you measure those costs?