A CTV News investigation has revealed that the $100 million transmission line failing to deliver any energy might not have been needed in the first place.
The 76-kilometre line was built to bring electricity into Ontario from Niagara Falls, New York, but because of a land dispute in Caledonia, Hydro One has been unable to complete the last 5 kilometres of the power line.
In newly obtained documents, the Ontario Energy Board indicated that the powerline may not have been needed in the first place.
According to the documents, Hydro One wanted to charge Ontarians the entire cost of the powerline but the Ontario Energy Board rejected the application sighting there didn’t seem to be a sound economic case for the line in the first place.
Conservative Energy Critic John Yakabuski calls the powerline “scandalous” and says that the line either needs to be finished, re-routed or written off so that taxpayers stop paying interest.
“There is going to have to be a time where the government is going to have to decide, are we finishing this line? Are we completing it and hooking it up so we are taking advantage the fact Hydro spent $100 million to build something?” Yakabuski said.
The Deputy Premiere says that the Ontario Energy Board will decide whether taxpayers will continue to pay the interest on the powerline since Hydro One now publically owned.
