February 21st, 2019

Hydro One cash flying out the door as people's bills continue to rise

QUEEN'S PARK — On Thursday, the privatized Hydro One revealed it banked a whopping $163 million in profits during the third quarter — which means families' hydro bills just keep going up, but the millions of dollars they're shelling out are going into the pockets of shareholders instead of being used to fund things like health care, children's schools or autism funding.
Meanwhile, the Doug Ford government confirmed this morning that the new CEO of Hydro One will be paid $1.5 million — double the $750,000 salary the CEO of Hydro One made when Hydro One was public.
"Doug Ford paid Kathleen Wynne's $6-million man a $9-million exit package. Then his meddling in Hydro One resulted in a $136 million penalty. And now he's fighting for a $1.5 million annual salary for the CEO," said NDP Finance critic Sandy Shaw. "Ontario families are paying dearly for the Liberal and Conservative scheme to privatize Hydro One."
Shaw said a public Hydro One meant lower electricity bills, plus additional revenue to support public services.
"Hydro One is profitable," said Shaw. "For every child that's being cut off of the autism therapies they need, every patient that's waited in pain in an understaffed hospital and every teacher with a leaky ceiling in their classroom, watching hundreds of millions of dollars being gifted to private investors is a painful reminder that this government just doesn't share their priorities."