Hydro prices going up

Get ready to pay more for hydro, starting next month.

New electricity prices for households and small business customers go into effect November 1st.

The typical household can expect an increase of four dollars, or about three per cent more for power, no matter what time of day you’re using it.

Most Ontario households use about two-thirds of their power during off-peak hours.

“The Liberals put Ontario on a track for heavy price increases when they took on the Conservatives privatization policies and decided not to make energy conservation the heart of their energy strategy. And when you privatize and you go to heavy investments in gas plants when you expand your nuclear you are going to pay a very heavy price. We are seeing the fallout from those decisions in the increases in the price of electricity far beyond the rate of inflation,” says Peter Tabuns, Ontario NDP energy critic

Last week Ontario’s auditor general reported that the cost for cancelling two gas plants in Ontario was $815 million, most of it to be repaid over the next two decades through an increase to hydro bills.