Facing sky-high connection fees, rural Ontarians go off the grid
CBC
When Craig Timmermans set out to build a new headquarters for his companies in northern Ontario, he reached out to the power company to find out how much it would charge him to connect to the grid.
He says he expected to pay a few thousand dollars, given that the nearest pole was across the street, about 45 metres away. He was shocked to find out it would cost $80,000.
"I thought that was just totally outrageous," Timmermans told CBC News.
Hydro One, which distributes electricity for most rural customers in the province, eventually reduced the cost to $25,000. It was still too much, according to Timmermans.
"And then on top of that, to pay, you know, an electric bill, probably at around four to five hundred dollars a month for the rest of my life and only increasing. I thought, well, now's the time to go off-grid."
Last summer, Timmermans's two radio stations: Great Lakes Country 103.1 and Hits 100.7 went live from their new home — in Little Current, Ont., about 90 kilometres southwest of Sudbury — the first off-grid stations in Canada.
They, along with the internet service provider Timmermans also owns, are powered by 24 solar panels and a wind turbine.
Combined, the system produces eight kilowatt hours — more than enough to run his offices, radio studios, the central air conditioning and the servers that keep his internet customers connected year 'round, he says.
It cost him $23,000.
"But on top of that, we have no more [power] bills after that," Timmermans said.
In winter, he says he needs a propane furnace to heat the building.
A separate wind-and-solar array mostly powers the stations' transmitters, which belt out 77,500 watts of radio signal as far south as the Bruce Peninsula. The rest comes from the traditional power grid, but not for long, Timmermans hopes.
Powering the transmitters used to cost a small fortune: $6,000 a month, he says.
"Our current rate is about $1,500," he told CBC News.
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