June 1st, 2020

Ontario families can’t afford higher hydro bills: NDP

QUEEN’S PARK — As the Conservative government hikes hydro rates in the middle of a pandemic, Ontario NDP Energy critic Peter Tabuns said Premier Doug Ford’s failure to fix the electricity system is costing families.

Thanks to Ford’s hydro rate hike, Ontario families will pay 12.8 cents per kilowatt hour starting today, up from 10.1 cents per kilowatt hour.

“Ford promised a 12 per cent drop in electricity bills, and instead he’s only hiked them higher and higher,” said Tabuns. “Everyday families are paying for his failure to fix the broken, privatized system. The government should be doing more to lower electricity bills, not making them more expensive in the middle of a pandemic.”

So far, hydro rates have gone up almost two per cent on Ford’s watch, after Ford campaigned on lowering electricity bills by 12 per cent. That promise was made in the wake of years of skyrocketing bills under the former Liberal government, which sold off Hydro One.