• Only APPrO focuses 100% on the business issues of power producers in Ontario. APPrO gets results through purposeful and cost-effective advocacy, while providing great networking opportunities and industry information to its members.
• APPrO meets regularly with the Ontario government and leaders and senior staff of the opposition parties, and the heads and staff of the IESO, central agencies and the OEB on larger scale policy issues.
• APPrO continues to advocate for generator interests at the IESO on wide number of issues around market principles and rules through its Market Affairs Working Group. This Working Group has provided advice and guidance on matters of material commercial and/or operational significance relating to the existing IESO-administered markets, the future evolution of the markets, IESO stakeholder engagement processes, and other matters of commercial interest.
• APPrO continues to participate in regulatory proceedings including Ontario Energy Board and IESO market operations, development and rules forums and other processes which impact its members’ business. For example:
o APPrO has been an active participant in the IESO’s Market Renewal Project including numerous submissions to on the Single Schedule Market, Day Ahead Market, Enhanced Real-Time Unit Commitment and Incremental Capacity Auction as well as on enhanced decision-making processes regarding market rules and market manual amendments. APPrO is a member of the Market Design Advisory Group, the successor to the Market Renewal Working Group.
o APPrO represent Ontario generators on the IESO’s Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) and works closely with generator representatives on the Technical Panel (TP);
o Ontario’s Industrial Emission Performance Standards, and the federal Output Based Performance Standard, and their impact on contracted natural gas-fired generators;
o Enbridge rate applications, capital expansions, deferral accounts and earnings sharing mechanisms proceedings, and Cap and Trade compliance plans;
o TransCanada Pipelines (TC Energy) rate development proposals such as the current Post 2020 settlement discussions, and related regulatory proceedings, where they are of concern to generators;
o IESO 2020 Expenditure and Revenue Requirement Application;
o The OEB Chair’s Advisory Roundtable;
o The OEB’s Regional Planning Process Advisory Group (RPPAG).
• APPrO has been actively engaged in formal and informal consultations on rate design and revenue decoupling with the OEB, generators, LDCs, and other stakeholders. APPrO made a significant submission on Commercial Industrial Rate Design (EB-2015-0043) on April 12 2019.
• APPrO has been a leading voice in public advocacy for balanced approaches to the integration of economic forms of Distributed Energy Resources in the Ontario electricity market. APPrO made a presentation to the Ontario Energy Board on September 17, 2019 and on April 30, 2020 the organization submitted comments on the scope of two DER-related proceedings. It also led a number of discussions with other energy sector organizations to improve co-ordination and alignment on DER issues in these and other proceedings in 2019 and 2020.
• APPrO continues to advocate policy and regulatory initiatives that would alleviate regulatory and institutional barriers for distributed generation in Ontario, monitoring rules and regulations as they are developed for their potential impact on DERs with an emphasis on distributed generation.
• APPrO’s magazine, IPPSO FACTO, continued to publish leading edge news and analysis, in print and online, acting as a thought leader and dealing with some of the most critical transformative forces at work in the Canadian energy sector.
• As well, the annual Canadian Power Conference and Trade Show is a key landmark in the sector. In 2019 more than 500 people from government, industry and the regulatory agencies gathered to discuss the latest issues and focus on how to promote the development of a more competitive market in Ontario.
