Monday, March 21, 2011

Ontario PCs Call for Wasteful OPA Bureaucracy to be Scrapped

NEWS:

QUEEN'S PARK-Today, Ontario PC Deputy Leader Christine Elliott called on Dalton McGuinty to scrap the wasteful and bloated bureaucracy known as the Ontario Power Authority (OPA), whose ballooning budget and expenses are contributing to Ontario families' skyrocketing hydro bills.

Originally conceived as a "virtual" and "transitional" agency, the OPA has expanded from 15 employees when it was created in 2005 to over 300 employees today. OPA expenses have exploded by a staggering 465%. The number of OPA salaries over $100,000 has grown from six in 2005 to 75 including former Dalton McGuinty spokesperson Ben Chin who made $185,000 at OPA last year.

Longtime Liberals Patrick Monaghan, Lyn McLeod, and Adele Hurley are also on the OPA Board.While Dalton McGuinty rewards his friends at the OPA, Ontario families are seeing their hydro bills skyrocket. Hydro rates have already gone up 75 percent under Dalton McGuinty, over 100 percent if you have smart meter tax machine. What's worse, family hydro bills are expected to increase another 46 percent over the next few years, according to Dalton McGuinty's own low-ball estimate.

QUOTES:

"Six years ago, Dalton McGuinty created the Ontario Power Authority saying it was a transitional agency and promising it would produce a long-term energy plan. But all he has to show after six years are skyrocketing hydro bills and a record of backtracking from the offshore wind experiment and screwed up microFIT experiment the OPA produced for him."-- Christine Elliott, Deputy Ontario PC Leader

"When the Ontario Power Authority is not wasting money, it is busy finding ways to make life miserable for Ontario families. It's time to scrap the OPA bureaucracy and once and for all put families first."-- John Yakabuski, Ontario PC Energy Critic

QUICK FACTS:· The "virtual" and "transitional" OPA bureaucracy has expanded from 15 employees when it was created in 2005 to over 300 employees today.·

OPA expenses have grown over that time from $14.1 million to $79.7 million - an increase of 465%.·

The number of six figure salaries at the OPA has skyrocketed from six to 75 - a staggering increase of 1,250%.

21 comments:

  1. I just moved into a 2-bedroom apartment and according to my lease I only pay for electricity, not heating (which is not electric) nor hot water. my last electricity bill (for 2 months) was $170. is this normal???? in my last apartment my bill hovered around $80. I have a fridge, stove, and microwave. and some lights. the tv is plugged in but never on. one computer plugged in but turned off most of the time. I called hydro but they were completely useless. Any help is appreciated. What are my options?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous: you must live in Toronto... electricity rates there have been increasing for 2 decades. $170/month is normal but there are ways to save and this type of bill provides a lot of incentive to do so, like turning off computers that aren't needed, using compact fluorescent lights, badgering your landlord to install energy efficient applicances, etc. good luck -D

    ReplyDelete
  3. actually I live in Ottawa, and my previous apartment was also in Ottawa in the same neighbourhood. we pretty much live in constant darkness and have nothing 'on' except the fridge. the only 'plugged' items are a computer, a stove, and a couple small lamps for the living room (since no ceiling lamp) - even the tv is now unplugged. i just don't get how our 'average kwh' can be 20.43 based on that kind of use.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Got one better - haven't lived in my house in over a month, main breaker for the panel is turned off because I have baseboard heaters and you can't actually cancel hydro. The only way to do so is to disconnect the service, have them take away the meter, and pay thousands to reinstall them when needed (in my case 1 year). Yet somehow during the first month of no one living there, the oh-so-wonderful "smart meter" tells them that I used over 2000kwH of hydro!!! And of course, customer non-service was of no help, insisting there was usage even when no one has been there and the whole panel was off. What a scam

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  5. Want to throw a question out there. We live in the country and have a main hydro shut off at the pole. If I shut the power off during the day at peek time, 6 hours, every day would I save anything?? So I would have no hydro on at all for 6 hours. Would this ruin my freezer and fridge doing so ??

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  6. The food in your fridge would warm and get contaminated during the summer. In the winter you run the risk of freezing the house. Best just to shut off what you don't need running during those hours. Welcome to the new modern civilization.

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  7. I was forced to seek out a living in the city so, I now pay 2 hydro bills one for my house and one for the apartment. I can no longer afford a car to get to/fro due to increasing living expenses and gasoline prices.

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