Ministerial Letter of Direction to The Ontario Energy Board

Ontario’s Minister of Energy and Electrification, the Honourable Stephen Lecce, issued the annual Letter of Direction (formerly known as a ‘mandate letter’) to Mark E. White, the recently appointed Chair of the Ontario Energy Board (OEB). This is the first letter of direction Minister Lecce has issued to the OEB since entering the energy portfolio in June 2024. The letter of direction outlines the government’s priorities and expectations for the regulator’s upcoming business planning period. The tone is ambitious and creates an expectation to accelerate timelines on all fronts.

Three guiding principles have been defined as central to the OEB’s work: innovation, sustainability and accountability. Innovation refers to improved customer experience, data sharing and digitization. Sustainability is focussed on fiscal prudence and workforce size management. Accountability is broadly defined as reporting, cybersecurity and alignment with Ontario Public Service (OPS) standards and policies.

The 2024 letter of direction is another example of the emphasis that Ontario is placing on the growing magnitude of electrification and energy transition. It calls on the OEB for decisive thought leadership and lists specific action-items. In line with the government’s overall position on energy policy, the action-items coalesce around three central themes:

• Growth – acknowledging the IESO’s recent update to their demand forecast, with power demand expected to include by 75% by 2050, and pointing to the Integrated Energy Plan expected to be released in early 2025.
• Customer Focus – including changed to cost allocation and beneficiary pays approaches associated with Last Mile Connections and as included in the recent Bill 214, Affordable Energy Act, as well as means to accelerate distribution and transmission infrastructure development.
• Regulatory Evolution - in continuing the trend from previous years, the Minister has again asked the OEB to identify legislative and regulatory barriers that may hinder the OEB from delivering on its mandate.

Notably, there is a strong emphasis placed on the role of the distribution sector in meeting provincial policy objectives, both in terms of electricity and natural gas. This expands the mandate from last year’s letter of direction around distributed energy resources (DER) and non-wires alternatives (NWA).

The OEB has been directed to continue providing quarterly updates on its progress.

Click here to read our summary.