Electricity.
Did you ever wonder how the
exact amount of electricity
you need is available
in real time, each day?
Think about the electricity used
as you and your family
get ready in the morning.
While you're away, a
programmable or smart thermostat
can adjust your home temperature
to lower your electricity use.
Energy goes up again when
you return home at night.
We're all connected to
the electricity grid.
Energy is delivered to us
from electricity generators,
over wires, and into our homes,
and this is all managed
through an electricity market.
It's bought and sold like many
other types of commodities,
say the market for apples.
Just like a variety of apples
from many different farms
and orchards are bought
and sold at a market,
there are also a lot of participants
in the electricity market,
which helps make pricing competitive.
It cost-effectively aligns the ability
to provide electricity, or supply,
with our need for electricity, or demand.
And that demand varies throughout the day.
One of the responsibilities
of Ontario's IESO,
or Independent Electricity
System Operator,
is to watch patterns of energy consumption
across the province,
and use them to forecast
the amount of electricity
we'll need in any given hour.
Various electricity generators
use the IESO forecast
to plan how much electricity
they can provide,
and at what cost.
They need to factor in things
like equipment maintenance,
and available fuel sources.
Because that supply of resources varies,
and our demand for electricity varies,
different offers come to market
every five minutes, 24 hours a day.
And just as various apple growers
come to the market, with
the amount of apples
they can offer at their best price,
the generators of electricity
come to the market
with the amount of energy they can offer
at their best price.
And that's how they compete
to provide that electricity.
Then, the IESO, in order to meet demand,
takes the lowest prices offered,
until our need for electricity is met.
Running the electricity market in this way
allows the IESO to operate
the electricity grid
cost-effectively, and ensures
that a reliable supply
of electricity is provided to us all
whenever it's needed.
And all of that gives us this.
