Government gaffes to blame for Ontario’s rising electricity rates: poll

A fair share of Ontario voters see government blunders as the leading cause of the province's climbing electricity prices, according to a new poll.

The Forum Research survey, provided exclusively to QP Briefing, found 47 per cent of respondents answered that “government mismanagement” was chiefly responsible for the mounting costs.

“The opinion that government mismanagement is responsible for rising hydro rates could present a problem for the Liberals in 2018, as the increasing costs are becoming more and more of an issue for voters across the province,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum Research, in a release. “It’s an issue that the Liberals need to address, if they want to win.”

Hydro rates are widely seen as the biggest issue in Ontario politics at the moment, and the province's Liberal government and Premier Kathleen Wynne have acknowledged they need to do more to help consumers with their bills. Wynne has promised a new relief package for electricity customers that is supposed to arrive before the 2017 budget is tabled.

"I have made a commitment that the affordability of electricity in this province is of paramount concern," said Wynne during Tuesday's question period, the first of 2017. "We have made a number of changes, including the most recent 8 per cent reduction across the board. But I have committed, Mr. Speaker—  and our Minister of Energy is working to bring forward a proposal before our budget that would further reduce electricity costs across the province."

After mismanagement, the Liberal government’s privatization of Hydro One drew the second-largest share of the blame in the Forum poll, as 17 per cent singled it out as the culprit for increasing electricity costs. Approximately 30 per cent of Hydro One has been sold in stock offerings, with the proceeds intended to pay off old debt and fund infrastructure projects. The government plans to sell another 30 per cent of the utility.

While concerns about compensation at Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation have been raised in recent weeks, just 11 per cent of those polled by Forum said executive salaries were at fault for the rising electricity rates.

Another 10 per cent of people surveyed said they didn’t know what was causing the increased costs.

Renewable energy projects and the closure of the province’s coal-fired power plants, while a popular culprit for some, received minimal blame in the poll. Just nine per cent of respondents pointed the finger at wind turbines and other green energy projects and just two per cent claimed it was the closure of Ontario’s coal-fired power plants driving up electricity prices. Three per cent said it was something else.

Wynne maintained Tuesday that the Liberals "have made billions of dollars of investments into our electricity system" in recent years, although that was not among the reasons listed in the Forum poll for the higher hydro costs. The Liberals' estimated $1-billion decision to cancel two gas-fired power plants, made during Dalton McGuinty's premiership, was not among the possible reasons either.

Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown asked Tuesday that Wynne cut her losses.

"The Premier says she has been fixing hydro bills for 14 years," Brown said. "Let me say: Please stop trying to fix it. You’ve taken competitive energy bills to among the highest in North America."

The Forum poll was conducted on February 15 and 16, surveying 1,120 random Ontario voters by telephone. The poll's margin of error is three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

To contact the reporter on this story:
gzochodne@qpbriefing.com
416-212-5913
Twitter: @geoffzochodne