A court ruling has forced the Ontario government to pay out $179 million to a handful of power producers, including some in the northeast. The Cochrane and Iroquois Falls Power Corporations amongst many others will receive some of this payment.
Temiskaming Cochrane MPP John Vanthof says this was caused by the government purchasing unnecessary power contracts that went unused. Vanthof says this is something the NDP’s have been pushing the government to stop doing. He says that we need to stop signing new power contracts and look at hydro system from the point of view of the people paying the bills not the investors.
The MPP adds the eight per cent cut to the HST portion of hydro bills is something that should have been addressed a long time ago and although it helps, it’s too little too late.
The $179 million will be divided between all of the private companies who won the appeal.
(Written by: Rudy Kadlec)