canadiancontractor
One man’s personal hydro boycott in Ontario, one hour a week
It's like his own personal Earth Hour.
Here is a post from reader Scott MacKinnon replying to our April 2014 article where Eastern Ontario electrical contractor Doug Leitch called for protests about Ontario Hydro’s steep rate hikes. (If people thought the rates were bad two years ago, look at them NOW… and look into the very near future.)
“I agree that something has to be done about hydro rates. The best way I’ve found to protest hydro rates is that on the third Sunday of every month at noon I “GO DARK.” That is I go to my electrical panel and shut the main breaker of for one hour. Then I turn it back on. If enough people in the province did this, it would send a clear message to both government and the industry.”
Editor’s reply: Not so sure the “clear message” would result in lower rates. It has been well documented that at least one hydro firm in Ontario increased its rates substantially to counter the effect of selling a lot less hydro than it expected, owing to energy-conscious consumers. They had their top line revenue expectation – and nothing was going to stop them from achieving it.
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Ask yourself why we have some of the highest hydro rates in North America. It’s pretty obvious that by selling public utilities and allowing large corporations to take over we have shot ourselves in the foot! If you even take into account some of the cancelled projects that have cost tax payers billions and gone to private corporations you can figure out why your bill has gone up. Now with an opportunity to bring down rates and protect our planet by coming to an agreeement with Quebec Hydro our government is making excuses about why it may not be a good idea. So how many people really understand what nuclear power is, anyone hear of Chernobyl or A little problem in Japan at a Nuclear plant?
Come on people let’s go after the government and huge corporations who are bleeding us dry for profit only. What’s next water and air?
Dear Hydro boycott, jokes on you. When hydro generation went on sale to the private sector our all knowing government guaranteed a specific level of usage. So if we don’t use it our tax dollars will make up the difference.