TORONTO - The Ontario Power Authority says it still doesn't know whether the privately run Bruce Power will pay a penalty for missing a deadline to restart two nuclear reactors last year.
The NDP complained in the legislature that the government had allowed Bruce Power off the hook and didn't impose a penalty that the party claimed would have saved electricity ratepayers up to $500 million a year.
Both the government and Bruce Power disputed that number -- calling it "wrong" and "inaccurate."
The New Democrats were later forced to admit they couldn't support that figure, which NDP energy critic Peter Tabuns admitted he'd taken from an old newspaper article.
But Tabuns complains the government is still has questions about why Bruce Power did not have to pay a penalty for its delay in getting the refurbished reactors online and the government is refusing to anwer them.
Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli says Bruce invoked what's known as a "force majeure" claim, stating that something happened beyond their control to cause the missed the deadline.
But the OPA says the claim applies only to the equipment issue and it's still working through whether the delay was entirely attributable to that problem.
