Ontario’s soaring hydro bills have some residents begging churches to help them pay

nationalpost.com
By Ellwood Shreve
March 16, 2017

Ontario’s soaring electricity prices are emptying the charitable coffers of churches in the southwestern part of the province that are being tapped by parishioners unable to pay their power bills.

The problem is so bad, one cleric in Wallaceburg says his church’s benevolent fund has gone into overdraft three times in the past two years - something he hadn’t seen in 24 years on the job - as people ask for help.

“I know on paper, from my own accounting, I’ve overdrafted it three times” within the last two years, said Pastor Brian Horrobin of First Baptist Church in the town north of Chatham.

“There’s definitely been a marked increase in people coming for help,” said Horrobin, noting the same has happened at other churches in the area.

Horrobin said his church has either helped people pay outstanding hydro bills or given them pre-paid grocery cards because they can’t afford groceries after paying for electricity.

Ontario electricity rates have essentially doubled over the past decade, with the province’s auditor-general finding ratepayers paid $37 billion more than market prices for power over much of that period and will fork out more than three-and-a-half times as much in extra costs by 2032 because the Liberal government ignored its own energy experts and made political decisions that hiked the cost for consumers.

The fallout has set the stage for the next election in 2018, with the New Democrats proposing to cut power prices by 30 per cent and the Liberals, their popularity tumbling in the polls, promising to cut bills by 17 per cent this summer. That’s on top of an eight-per-cent cut that took effect Jan. 1, when they removed the provincial sales tax on hydro.

Horrobin raised his concerns during an anti-poverty roundtable held by Progressive Conservative MPP Monte McNaughton, whose Lambton-Kent-Middlesex riding is almost the size of Prince Edward Island and takes in vast rural reaches where electricity delivery rates are higher than in many urban areas.

“A story that hit home for me is that a number of churches in North Kent are now raiding benevolent funds to pay people’s hydro bills . . . because they can’t afford to pay those bills (since) the costs have gone up so much,” McNaughton said.

Ernie Hardeman, the MPP for Oxford, said social agencies and churches in his riding are also reporting more people coming to them seeking relief from energy bills.

“Just coming in and getting help with food just doesn’t seem to do it anymore, because their hydro bill is a bigger problem than not being able to get their groceries,” he said.

McNaughton said he plans to share the results of his anti-poverty meetings with Liberal MPP Ted McMeekin, who has struck a rural task force on poverty.

When politicians talk about poverty, McNaughton said, too often they refer to Toronto and urban areas. “It’s time Queen’s Park starts thinking outside of Toronto and outside of cities to realize that people are falling behind in small-town Ontario,” he said.

McMeekin said when it comes to the impact of hydro prices on Ontarians, “there’s no news there, that’s been evident for some time.”

Acknowledging they’ve struggled with the issue, the Hamilton-area MPP said the Liberals’ recent moves to lower costs, including reducing delivery charges that sent bills soaring, will help. By this summer, he said, no one will be paying more than the average monthly delivery charge in Toronto, which is $38.

Late last year, Wynne called Ontario’s high electricity prices her “mistake” and vowed to fix them.

But Hardeman, a former agriculture minister, is critical of Wynne’s promise, calling it a “Band-Aid” fix that doesn’t address structural problems.

“The premier says she’s solving the problem, and yet she’s done nothing about changing the system,” he said.

The Liberals have stood by their handling of the energy file, noting they closed Ontario’s dirty coal-fired power plants in favour of green energy.

But critics point out the government’s plunge into green energy since 2009, which greatly expanded wind- and solar-generated power, included sweetheart long-term contracts that guaranteed energy producers far more than what consumers pay for power, inflating the cost.

McMeekin said he’s been saying all along the delivery charges weren’t fair, and the government listened.

The Liberals inherited problems with the electricity system from the former PC government, he said, citing the frequent number of smog days Ontario had then - a problem aggravated by coal-fired power - and the 2003 blackout, when power plants across Ontario scrambled to get the province’s grid operational after 50 million North Americans were plunged into darkness.

He noted a $50-billion investment was made to upgrade the power system, and “somebody’s got to pay for that.”

The government’s plan to lower hydro costs takes the pressure off that bill, essentially spreading the pain over a longer period, like remortgaging a house, at an added cost of $25 billion in interest.

The plan also contains a delivery charge reduction for some rural customers, removing the charge entirely for on-reserve First Nations customers, and expanding a low-income support program.

Deputy Premier Deb Matthews of London said the government heard Ontarians “loud and clear” on hydro.

“Electricity prices are a big deal for the people of this province,” she said, adding “that is why we came out strongly with a significant reduction.”