Yesterday morning, as the provincial legislature returned from winter recess, Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP Norm Miller stood up during the first Question Period of 2017 and asked Premier Kathleen Wynne how small businesses are expected to succeed while being burdened with soaring hydro rates.
Using the example of Muskoka Meats in Gravenhurst, Miller highlighted the immense burden that small rural businesses face under Ontario’s uncompetitive hydro system. Muskoka Meats owner Dave Purdon is struggling to replenish his stock after being forced to launch a half-price sale of frozen meats on Facebook in order to pay his hydro bill and keep his business running.
“As a butcher, Dave knows that his freezers require substantial electricity to run. However, when faced with a $1,700 hydro bill and a $5,000 security deposit, he had no option but to sell his quality products at a loss,” said Miller. “Speaker, will the Premier explain how she expects small rural businesses like Dave’s to succeed and prosper while paying Ontario’s outrageous hydro rates?”
The premier referred the question to Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault, who noted that the Province had put in place an eight per cent rebate program off the HST portion of the charge on electricity consumption, effective January 1, 2017. He also noted other programs were put in place to help small business, but they need to be promoted further.
“But as the Premier has said quite a few times, Mr. Speaker, we’ve come forward with programs. We’ve had that eight per cent reduction that’s just been in place since January 1. That eight per cent reduction applies to all retail price plan customers, which includes farms, which includes small businesses and includes residents. That eight per cent is coming off the bill, but we know we need to do more. We’ll continue to work hard at that and we’ll make sure that we find other ways to help those businesses,” he said.
Miller was one of many Opposition MPPs calling on the government to take action on Ontario’s exorbitant hydro rates. You can see the full transcript here.
You can also find out more about the rebate program on Hydro One’s site here.
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The Liberals are claiming that they are reducing hydro rates by removing 8% of the H.S.T. from the cost, this reduction applies only to the energy cost, not delivery charges and other fees for hydro. Furthermore when it comes to businesses they already deduct their H.S.T. payable from the H.S.T. collected so the reduction is really of no value to them. It’s all smoke and mirrors.
Sugarbush Hill Maple Farm will be having the hydro blues soon. With the sap season now upon us (so early) and the vacuum pump running many days for 24 hours straight huge hydro bills are expected. Also running will be numerous other pumps, reverse osmosis, the evaporator blowers, filtering machine, bottling machine (as we hot-pack our syrup for quality) and various other value-added producing machines. It’s all in the life of a sugarmaker today.
In the olden days labour was the biggest cost and so maple producers became more automated to be more efficient and to save on costs over the long haul. Those savings are now being gobbled up by one of the most costly hydro rates in all of North America. Even the off-peak rates are really high which really doesn’t help a business owner like myself. When the saps flowing we’re boiling and all equipment is on whether it’s before 7 P.M. or after or on Weekends or not…we’re governed by Mother Nature and now also heartless politicians who don’t really care about jacking up hydro rates in a big way …one of the essential needs of life. It’s really bad when people need to move out of a life-long home because of sky-rocketing taxes and hydro costs or small businesses shutting down as operating costs have suddenly gone out-of-sight.
Tough choices for all small business owners but not a tough choice at the next voting station.
Sugarbush Tom.
Good for Norm to bring this up.
Hydro (more correctly electrical energy) is the ONLY system we can use to move the energy we need to the places we need it, at least in the long run. We have to stop burning fossil fuels they say and with some variability on the time line they are right so the electric system is our only real option. It is flexible in that it can take inputs from a multitude of sources, some greener than others and it can cleanly move that energy to where we need it. It does this silently and at the speed of light so we need to find a better way to switch to Electricity for sure.
Also for sure (and very sadly) the current government is not succeeding at this job. Not only do we need to increase our clean electricity supply by some orders of magnitude, but we need to lower the price if we want to have any hope of competing in business or even being able to heat our homes for that matter.
There are lots of ways this system can be made better, some can start now with just a few strokes of a government pen and be immediately effective. Others will take decades as we switch and build a better network of supplies and distribution but we have no choice in this in the long run. Wynne’s 8% placebo will do nothing in the long run and they had better be using all of that carbon tax to improve our electric system, every last penny of it!