The final report from the Ontario Electrification and Energy Transition panel calls for more input from local municipalities in planning for the future of electricity in province.
"Acknowledging the need for a strengthened framework for local energy planning and decision-making, and taking steps to facilitate its implementation, is a critical recommendation," said QUEST Canada’s executive director Tonja Leach.
"Ensuring municipalities are actively involved and adequately supported in the energy transition is vital for realizing our goal of a sustainable energy future," she said.
Quest Canada said it is pleased that the report cited its Net-Zero Communities Accelerator Program and Energy Transition Policy Program.
The final report said there needs to be effective collaboration and integration in energy planning across fuels, especially electricity and natural gas, across end use sectors and across levels of government, to ensure investments and innovation can be deployed in a way that unlocks their full value.
It also said that building and maintaining public support for electrification and the energy transition is important and should be achieved “with a principled pragmatic approach, grounded in cost-effectiveness and solutions tailored to the specific, often local needs and circumstances of people as customers, citizens and community members.”
“Most importantly,” said Leach, is that “Ontarians need to be able to see themselves and their community in the province’s clean energy economy vision.”
QUEST Canada is a registered Canadian charity that supports communities in Canada on their pathway to net-zero.
