QUEEN'S PARK - NDP Leader
Howard Hampton says Dalton McGuinty is breaking
a key promise today by whacking ordinary Ontario families with
another hydro rate hike.
"Dalton McGuinty's hydro
rate hike is a cruel April Fool's joke on the
people of Ontario. The premier's electricity price increase will
make
life more difficult for ordinary Ontario families already struggling to
make it from paycheque to
paycheque," said Hampton, author of Public Power: The
Fight for Publicly Owned Electricity.
During the election, McGuinty
promised to keep hydro rates at 4.3 cents a
kilowatt hour through 2006. But today, he's raising rates for the
second time.
* The first 750
kilowatt-hours of monthly consumption will cost five
cents per kilowatt hour, up by 6.4 per cent from the current rate
of 4.7 cents and up
16.3 per cent from the election-time rate of 4.3 cents.
* Consumption beyond 750
kilowatt-hours per month will cost 5.8 cents
per kilowatt-hour, up by 5 per cent from the current rate of 5.5
cents
and up
34.9 per cent from the election-time rate of 4.3 cents.
McGuinty's latest rate hike
comes amid revelations the Liberals rubber-stamped
million-dollar salaries and
helicopter trips for top Hydro executives.
Hydro executives occupy 12 of
the top 15 spots on the list of the Ontario
government's top earners in 2004. Topping he list is Hydro One CEO
Tom Parkinson, who raked in
$1,106,998.
"Ordinary Ontario families are getting zapped on their hydro bill
while Dalton McGuinty gives
hydro executives the keys to the bank vault and
the keys to the company helicopter," Hampton said.
"Now more than ever,
it's clear the premier has made an April Fool out of
anyone who believes he's looking out for hydro ratepayers or that
he has a plan to guarantee
affordable, reliable electricity," Hampton said.
