Electricity bills to increase in St. Catharines, Hamilton
Posted March 8, 2011 8:03 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HAMILTON, Ont. – Electricity bills are set to rise once again in both Hamilton and St. Catharines, and you can definitely blame the so-called smart meters.
The Ontario Energy Board has given Horizon Utilities the green light to raise the fee it charges customers for the meters, to $2.14 from the current $1.56.
Horizon – the local utility company covering 235,000 homes and small businesses in the Hamilton-St. Catharines area, originally wanted to charge $2.45 for each meter.
The province has spent about $1 billion to install 4.5 million smart meters which bill customers according to the time of day they use electricity, rather than simply charging for the total usage.
The energy board said Horizon was justified in rising the price, as local utilities are allowed to pass on the cost of the smart meter program to customers.
Most hydro customers are paying more for electricity with smart meters than they were under the old system, according to preliminary figures from Hydro One and local utilities in Toronto and Bowmanville.
