The New Democratic member of the Ontario Legislature for Timmins says the extension of off-peak hours for hydro to the end of the month is good, and the Tory government should make it permanent.
“The total cost is about $106-million a month,” says Gilles Bisson, noting that during the last election campaign, the Conservatives – like the NDP – promised lower electricity rates.
“The Liberal hydro plan that jacked hydro rates up beyond what we’ve ever seen in the history of Ontario quite frankly wasn’t affordable,” Bisson remarks. “And now we’re stuck with it and the government has been there for two years and this is the first time they’ve done anything to try to reduce hydro rates.”
He says the current lower rate is needed beyond the end of May, to help people recover financially from being in isolation.
“Any help you can get to keep hydro rates down or to do anything in order to lessen what we have to pay in a month is going to allow people in the longer run to pay back what it has cost them to be at home for two or three months.”