NDP calls for moratorium on hydro disconnections

With hydro rates climbing, and temperatures dropping, Ontario NDP Energy Critic Peter Tabuns says the time has come for a moratorium on hydro disconnections in Ontario.

“There is a newspaper report today showing that food bank use is soaring because families can’t afford to pay their hydro bill and their grocery bill,” said Tabuns during question period this morning. “This past summer, the Minister of Energy refused to call energy poverty a crisis, even though 60,000 Ontario families have had their hydro cut off. We can expect the number of disconnections to soar next spring, when Hydro One will resume cutting off families who can’t pay their bills.”

United Way of Bruce Grey is leading the call for a moratorium on hydro disconnections. Across the province, more stories are emerging daily about families struggling to pay outrageous hydro bills. Tabuns says the sale of Hydro One will only worsen the issue.

“The Premier has finally acknowledged that soaring hydro prices are a ‘mistake,’ but the minister refuses to do anything to correct that mistake,” said Tabuns, MPP for Toronto-Danforth.

Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault “won’t halt the sale of Hydro One even though we know that privatization is going to drive prices up even further. He won’t direct the Ontario Energy Board to put the interests of consumers ahead of the private investors who will benefit from that privatization,” continued Tabuns, asking, “Will he at least agree to a moratorium on hydro disconnections?”