Soaring hydro bills high on Sudbury candidates' agenda
Soaring hydro rates are a hot topic with Sudbury's candidates, all vying for a seat in the upcoming provincial election.
Green Party candidate Casey Lalonde said that her party is clear on how to deal with excessive hydro rates.
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“The best way we believe to save money on hydro, simply is to use less of it, and you use less of it by having more energy efficient homes,” Lalonde said, adding that her party would offer incentives to people to reduce consumption.
NDP candidate Joe Cimino has other ideas, including looking into the money paid to top hydro executives.
“Capping the salaries of the CEOs and other managers in these corporations, public corporations who are making over a million dollars in some cases,” Cimon said. He said the NDP would like to see a full audit of the system.
Progressive Conservative Paula Peroni took a shot at the Liberals, and said the real problem lies with the Green Energy Act.
“We are paying the states to take the power that's generated because we have such poor contracts with the Green Energy Act,” she said.
However, Liberal candidate Andrew Olivier maintained that part of the problem with high rates is what the party inherited from the previous government.
“[The] foundation of that grid was a total mess and that came out of the previous two administrations and that was something we had to fix,” Olivier said.
Since early on in the election run up, both opposition parties have talked about reducing high power rates.
PC Leader Tim Hudak said he would end subsidies for wind and solar power, while cutting back on what he calls the "bloated" bureaucracy at both Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation.
If she becomes premier, New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath promised to get rid of the provincial portion of HST on hydro bills, which she said could save some homeowners about $120 a year.