Stakeholder Engagement SE-42 Response to Written Stakeholder Comments on Consumer Forum Draft Terms of Reference

The second bullet under 4 (b) could be interpreted as meaning that comments from the Consumer Forum will only be provided to other SH processes and only (indirectly) find their way into the IESO decision making process through these other forums. IESO staff and management should be using this process as a vehicle by which to directly receive input from consumers. IESO Response The wording in 4(b) has been revised. Comments from the Consumer Forum will be made available to IESO decision makers as well as other IESO stakeholder engagement mechanisms. Al Paskevicius, McMaster University As a recent interviewee, I fully support the development of the Consumer Forum. I realize that the need to get consumer feedback from groups/individuals other than large users is very important for the further evolution of the de‐regulated electricity marketplace. I do not have any comments on the content of Terms of Reference but I am concerned about the effectiveness of an outreach program to attract smaller consumers, including residential customers. The document does however reflect comments I made during the interview process. The paragraph on Page 1 of the Draft, i.e. “The IESO’s stakeholder engagement process…….the same level of resources as suppliers ” says it all in my opinion. Large users and Wholesale Market Participants are (or should be) very much in tune with the entire workings of the electricity marketplace. For smaller consumers, LDC’s “shield ” their customers from the OEB, the OPA, the IESO, OPGI, the HONI system, etc. (Monthly electricity invoices do reflect some of this however). An effective advertising campaign should be considered to help small users to become better acquainted with the market players. If not, then the Customer Forum may have difficulty in attracting participants. To be blunt, just who is the OEB, the OPA, OPGI, and what do they represent? I doubt that the average consumer knows. Another way to look the evolution of market de‐regulation as a whole is to compare the Imperial system to Metric. My generation grew up under the Imperial system, my kids are growing up with the Metric system. My generation grew up with Ontario Hydro and our local P.U.C. How difficult was it for some of us in my generation to adjust to the Metric system?

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