NDP calls for $100 rebate on ‘sky-high’ hydro bills
Posted March 5, 2014 3:28 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath has outlined a plan to give a $100-a-year rebate to Ontario customers paying “sky-high” hydro bills.
In a letter to Premier Kathleen Wynne on Wednesday, Horwath said waste and subsidies to the United States are the source of the problem and she has a way to fix it.
“Families and businesses need sky-high hydro bills brought back down to earth,” Horwath said. “That is a priority for me.”
The NDP is calling for Wynne to end the $1 billion in subsidies to supply the U.S. with cheap electricity; cap executive pay; merge the province’s hydro companies; and review private power contracts.
“The gas plants debacle is just one in a string of examples of how your government’s energy policies have led to unacceptable waste of public money that’s killing jobs and making life less affordable by driving up electricity rates,” Horwath wrote.
It’s the second letter the NDP leader has written in the past two weeks to set out her “priorities” for Wynne.
Last month, she slammed the idea of charging a gas tax or road tolls to fund transit.
“In recent months, you’ve made clear that you believe families should be paying more and that you are planning new taxes, tolls and fees that will hit the household budgets of families struggling with tough times,” Horwath said.
“I will not support any new taxes, tolls or fees that hit middle-class families. Now, more than ever, we need to respect the families who sent us here.”
If Horwath votes against the government’s spring budget — which the Progressive Conservatives have already said they won’t support — it will trigger an election.
