Liberal plan questioned – Belleville Intelligencer

BELLEVILLE-

Ontarios hydro rates have electrified another surge of partisan rhetoric a year ahead of the next election. Mere days after the Progressive Conservatives leaked cabinet documents in an effort to bore holes in the Liberals plan to reduce hydro rates by 25 per cent, the New Democrats, too, have come out swinging, with leader Andrea Horwath signalling they will not be voting in favour of the cuts. A little bit of temporary relief is going to turn into a huge increase, Horwath told The Intelligencer. At the heart of the contention is the Liberals announcement they will set up a special purpose financial entity to manage the borrowing of billions of dollars to fund the cuts. Interest payments would fall on the shoulders of Ontarians, with ratepayers picking up the tab for an estimated $25 billion in interest over 30 years, in an effort to lower rates this year. Prince Edward-Hastings MPP Todd Smith was behind the leak. We were the ones who released the cabinet document last Thursday. I had received them from a whistleblower who was upset the government was talking about providing instant relief when really what theyre doing is making the problem worse, Smith said. What the document shows is, after the next election, electricity bills will start to skyrocket again. Smith said the documents reveal the Liberals setting up a debt entity at Ontario Power Generation OPG. We will see the debt retirement charge returning to electricity bills in the mid-2020s, he said. Theyre taking the cost of the global adjustment off the bills and theyre moving that cost over to the new debt ($25 billion) entity at OPG. Customers are going to pay the interest on the new debt theyre creating. The Liberals say the aim of the proposed Fair Hydro Plan is to give people a break on rates now, but Horwath told The Intelligencer there is no concrete plan to put a lid on the root cause of the increases and the borrowing scheme is simply a political ploy to revive the premiers slumping ratings. Her plan is going to have those rates start soaring in about three or four years time, said Horwath. All shes doing is borrowing money to try to get her through the next election. Files from the leaked document suggest rates will fall this year, increasing by an average of about two per cent over the next four years, before jumping 6.5 per cent annually. Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault has called the leaked documents outdated, dismissing claims rates will only hike. Horwath has promised to cut hydro rates a minimum 30 per cent if she wins the June 7, 2018 polls. The Liberals havent wasted any time before taking shots at Horwaths plan. Their biggest idea buying more than $4 billion worth of Hydro One shares on the stock market will not take one cent off electricity bills, a release sent to The Intelligencer newsroom stated. Other alleged savings rely on a vague, yet-to-be determined expert panel to be convened sometime in the future. And theyre banking on lengthy, uncertain negotiations with the federal government for supposed reductions as well. Despite Ontarios Fair Hydro Plan helping families, businesses, and farms across the province including in Belleville Horwath said the NDP cant and wont vote in favour of this during a press conference this morning, the Liberal release stated. Horwath responded, saying selling off Hydro One is going to make hydro bills go up even further.

Visit link:

Liberal plan questioned - Belleville Intelligencer