Is hydro price break bad for us?

Ontario’s environmental watchdog is not impressed with the Liberal government’s move to give people 10 per cent off their electricity bills.

Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller says giving homeowners a 10 percent cut in the Liberals’ clean energy benefit is an artificial subsidy that undermines conservation efforts.

“It is a perverse incentive which undermines conservation, because it rewards and encourages increased consumption.”

“Are we going to make the choice that we’re going to not fix the electrical system, so we get a little cheaper rates in the short term and are we going to take our chances in the long-term? Or are we going to say ‘no’ and ‘we’re going to plan for the long-term’, and this is the pricing that has to occur.”

Miller says there is an overall increase of consumption of more than one per cent. He did praise the government for introducing time-of-use pricing for electricity, but warns the price subsidies undercut the impact of the new pricing scheme.

Link: Read the full report from the ECO website