Ontario Hydro
... The Toronto Star’s November 2, 2002, article by Thomas Walkom entitled “Hydro Shocker: What Went Wrong” explained the dilemma that the privatization of electricity has created. Under the old system, Ontario Hydro used to be the only supplier of electricity. Due to the many problems Ontario Hydro faced, the provincial government wanted to deregulate the electricity market of Ontario by encouraging private firms to compete and drive down the price of electricity through supply and demand, replacing Ontario Hydros monopoly with a competitive alternative. Hydro was then split up and sold the bulk of its generating plants. For the first time in Ontario’s history, people and businesses would be able to choose where they buy their electricity. The aftermath of electricity becoming market regulated has been unfavourable; hydro bills have skyrocketed and consumers were dealing with door-to-door salespeople selling contracts. ... Thomas Walkom described how the privatization of hydro has only created one new private plant and any intentions of other plant generators being opened has been abandoned. ... Instead of creating competition, deregulating hydro has created a monopoly that is no longer regulated by the government, but by a single private institution. ... However, privatizing hydro has not been in the consumers best interest. ... A later article by the Toronto Star printed November 4, 2002 entitled “We’ll Provide Relief on Hydro Rates: Tories” cited cases of pensioners forced to choose between eating and keeping the lights on.