NDP accuse Liberals of using hydro bills as partisan advertising
Ordering local utilities to include details on Ontario’s 25 per cent electricity discount is political plus the directive ends one month after the June 7, 2018 election, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says.

Thestar.com
Rob Ferguson
Dec. 12, 2017

A directive that local utilities like Toronto Hydro include details on the Ontario government’s 25 per cent discount on electricity bills appears increasingly political, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says.

An order-in-council on the matter was signed last June by Deputy Premier Deb Matthews -- co-chair of the Liberal re-election campaign -- and Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault.

“It’s very obviously partisan in its nature,” Horwath said Tuesday after brandishing the two-page document in the Legislature’s daily question period.

She said the directive is in effect until July 2018 -- a month after the June 7 election.

“Let’s agree to call these flyers what they are: desperate Liberal campaign advertising. I don’t think that’s right…what isn’t right is using public money for partisan purposes.”

Thibeault said the information is necessary so hydro customers know what they’re paying and why after years of rising rates.

“It’s trying to make sure that people understand, clearly, what their bills are all about,” he told reporters, noting orders-in-council are used to make regulations.

“Sometimes we treat people like they’re energy experts rather than just trying to understand their bill.”

The hydro rate cut, which includes an 8 per cent instant rebate on the provincial portion of the HST, was passed last spring as the governing Liberals faced mounting political troubles over skyrocketing hydro costs.

Average monthly bills will drop about $41 to $121 this year under the plan, which opposition parties have criticized as short-term gain for long-term pain as the government amortizes the costs of improvements to the grid over the next three decades.

Premier Kathleen Wynne has compared it to extending a mortgage to get lower monthly payments now.

The independent provincial Financial Accountability Office issued a report finding the plan will cost the province $45 billion over the next 29 years while saving ratepayers $24 billion, for a net expense of $21 billion.

While both the Progressive Conservatives and NDP voted against the 25 per cent rate cut, Conservative Leader Patrick Brown’s election platform will keep it in place and add a further cut of 12 per cent.

Horwath has proposed rate cuts of up to 30 per cent, which include asking the federal government to waive its 5 per cent portion of the HST, capping profits for private power producers and returning Hydro One to full public ownership by buying back privatized shares in Hydro One over an unspecified period.