Study concludes Bruce Power investment in public assets delivers significant value to Ontario

An updated report, released Monday by the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships (CCPPP) and Bruce Power, concludes that Bruce Power’s unique Public-Private Partnership (P3) continues to help Ontario achieve a number of key goals, including keeping electricity prices low for families and businesses, and helping ensure Ontarians have clean air to breathe.

Bruce Power has done this while investing significantly in public assets, without impacting the province’s balance sheet in the process, the joint study states.

The updated 2016 report, which was originally released in 2015, highlights the company’s achievements over the past 15 years within the P3 structure, including the continuation of policy support through Ontario’s Long-Term Energy Plan (LTEP), which will allow Bruce Power to add value to Ontario for decades through affordable energy, thousands of jobs, and billions in annual economic activity.

“Bruce Power’s strong track record of delivering tremendous value to Ontarians through low-cost electricity and reliable supply, demonstrates that nuclear power can be operated safely and cost-effectively by the private sector in a competitive market,” said Mark Romoff, president and chief executive officer of CCPPP. “As one of the largest P3s in Canada and the first involving nuclear power generation, Bruce Power is a unique model for future P3s in the global energy sector.”

The unique Bruce Power P3 was recognized by the CCPPP in 2001 as the winner of its Gold Award for Infrastructure in the National Awards for Innovation and Excellence in Public-Private Partnerships.

When Bruce Power took over the Bruce Nuclear site in 2001, there were only four reactors operating. Over the course of the following decade, Bruce Power doubled the number of operating units, allowing the province to deliver on its promise to eliminate coal-fired generation in Ontario.

Having returned the site to its full potential in 2012, and with the policy support outlined in Ontario’s LTEP, the company has begun 20 years’ worth of life-extension maintenance activities that will see the site operate up to 2064. This will create and sustain 22,000 direct and indirect jobs province-wide each year through $4-billion in annual economic benefit.