Hydro bills spread neatly on the living room table, Londoner Alex Moore vented to Ontario's NDP leader about the soaring cost of electricity.
Andrea Horwath met with Moore and his wife Sherri at their Commissioners Rd. home on Friday.
"We got our latest hydro bill and it was about $660. I just about fell over, I couldn't believe how high it was," Moore told Horwath.
Moore's hydro bill has nearly doubled in roughly a year and a half. He says steps taken to scale back his family's energy consumption haven't stopped the skyrocketing bills from coming.
"We have three teenagers in the house, so we asked them to start using energy on off-peak times. We run the laundry and dishwasher on off-peak times and we don't leave lights on," says Moore. "We are using a lot less power but our bills keep going up and up and up."
Horwath says she is hearing these same concerns from families and businesses across the province.
"Lots of families have lost good jobs. Wages have been flat in this province for a very long time so people are struggling," says Horwath. "The Liberals have made a mess of our energy system and so I worry. I worry very much how families are going to get through this winter."
Horwath blames the partial sale of Hydro One by the Liberals for the soaring rates. She says the government's plan to scrap the provincial portion of the HST from hydro bills in January is nothing more than a temporary rebate program.
"Who knows how long it is going to last?" says Horwath. "We need to find a way to market our excess energy in a way that is actually beneficial to Ontario ratepayers instead of giving it away for free or actually paying to light up the Manhattan skyline, which is what is happening right now."
The New Democrats are calling for the HST be removed from hydro bills permanently. Horwath would also like to see the addition of programs to help those with older appliances and windows get more energy efficient replacements.
"There are things that need to be done not only in terms of immediate relief for people who are in absolute crisis for their bills," says Horwath. "But there also needs to be things to help people get their consumption down."
Last week, the Ontario Energy Board announced hydro rates will not go up over the next six months. It's the first time in nearly a decade the rates have been unchanged heading into winter.
