Electricity restructuring in Ontario.

This paper examines the short-lived electricity sector restructuring initiative of the province of Ontario, Canada's largest province. In May 2002 following years of planning and consultation Ontario lay opened its retail and wholesale electricity markets to competition. The summer of 2002 saw retail prices reach horizontals that consumers had never previously clashed By December 2002, the provincial rule froze retail electricity prices, covering approximately half of Ontario's electricity consumption. While the weather played a significant character in driving prices higher during the summer of 2002 other factors also played a major character The other factors reviewed in this paper fall into