Energy wasted paying taxes
Premier has no problem putting consumers' wallets in spotlight
torontosun.com
By LINDA LEATHERDALE, MONEY EDITOR
Ontario was a place to stand, a place to grow.
Now it's a place to get fleeced: From Premier Dalton McGuinty's health-tax levy, to his sweeping powers to municipalities to invent new taxes, to rising property taxes, more hosing at the pumps, and skyrocketing electricity bills.
Queen's Park can afford it. Politicians just gave themselves a fat-cat 25% pay hike.
As for the rest of us, we're lucky to get a 2% raise, if we get one at all, while restructuring in our economy -- made worse by skyrocketing hydro costs -- has left 120,000 manufacturing workers without a job. Many are the new chronically unemployed, forced to cash in RRSPs just to put food on the table.
Oh, how they forget: One taxpayer. One pocket.
So, here's McGuinty's idea of Hydro We Can Trust, after he lied to us and got rid of the Tories' price caps.
Even though the commodity price of electricity falls slightly for the second time, effective May 1 -- after going through the roof, with the Tories' botched attempt at deregulation -- homeowners in Ontario still will be paying more to turn on the lights and air conditioning this summer.
It's estimated the electricity cost on your hydro bill will jump, by average, another $1.60. For some, distribution charges (that's the cost to get electricity to your home) is also going up, with the Ontario Energy Board approving a 2% increase. For people in Toronto, that's an extra 35c.
As we dig deeper into our pockets to pay our ever-rising electricity bills -- which includes GST on the debt retirement tax -- hydro brass are lining their pockets.
Hydro One CEO Tom Parkinson walked away with a $5-million parachute on top of a $1.69-million salary in 2006. Ontario Power Generation boss Jim Hankinson earned $1.48 million last year, and David Goulding of the Independent Electricity System Operator got $1.2 million.
Thanks to Sunshine laws, which shine a light on public servant pay, we were shocked to learn about a 24% hike in the number who earn more than $100,000 a year. Many were hydro workers.
"I think they better start trimming the fat around their own bellies," said Michael Haffey, who was outraged to hear Toronto Hydro was seeking a 6.3% hike to make up for lost revenue after many consumers cut back to conserve energy.
"This is total crap," complained Haffey, who followed government advice and bought energy-efficient appliances, including a washer, dryer, dishwasher, cooktop and in-the-wall oven. He also installed energy efficient bulbs and a programmable thermostat, adding: "I walk around my house turning off power to everything that's not required."
Meanwhile, Hydro Ottawa says higher distribution rates were necessary to offset the costs of McGuinty's smart meter initiative, which critics argue will be the next gun registry and MPAC boondoggle.
Talk about a government state: McGuinty has ordered that every home will get a smart meter by 2010, and we pay up to $5 a month to have big brother watching.
Those poor souls already using a smart meter in McGuinty's pilot project. While homeowners without smart meters will now pay 5.3c per kilowatt hour for the first 600 kilowatt hour a month, and 6.2c above that, no matter the time of day -- here's what people in the pilot project were paying:
10.5c in peak hours, 7.5c during mid-peak, and from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., 3.5c kw/h.
Bottom line is families are already working extra jobs and overtime to keep up with skyrocketing household bills -- and now they'll get no sleep to pay their hydro bills.
And those bills, now unbundled, show just how mad the hydro madness is.
Theresa Cahill said she was shocked to see a loss adjustment factor on her bill, and when she asked Burlington Hydro, the explanation was a cost for lost energy.
Her $310.78 bill included $162.77 for usage, $16.56 for regulatory charges, $95.74 for distribution, $17.39 for debt retirement, a 4.29% loss adjustment charge, plus GST at $17.55
"Not only am I paying for electricity I am not receiving, but GST on top of that," she complained. "How on Earth is it legal to pay GST on something I don't even receive?"
We're also paying GST at the pumps, where it's a tax on tax on top of a new hosing with gas at $1.05 a litre. |
