Hydro One - Ontario

I don't know if I make a good activist. I always look like I'm having a great time! Shouldn't I look more serious? I don't know. I think it's just the automatic reaction when someone points a camera towards me - CHEESE!! 

You should see an interview CTV did with a couple of the leaders of the "HYDRO ONE NOT FOR SALE!" group. I'm in the background chanting with some of my fellow protesters - honestly we look like a sorority group dancing and singing away! (In Canada Hydro = electricity)

Protesting outside of our local Member of Parliament's office.
We stage a sit-in every Friday for a half hour and generally
pester Ms. Matthews by filling out appointment slips
every week. So far one person has had one meeting
with her.

Here's the scoop: our provincial leader, Premier Wynn, is selling off our huge Ontario Company called Hydro One. With the payout, around $9 billion, some debts will be settled and the rest (not much) will go into repairs and infrastructure. A one time deal.

The $750 million annual profit will belong to whoever buys the company instead of going into the provincial budget. You can just imagine all the social programs that will have to be cut to make up for that huge loss.

Rates WILL go up and up and up. Brown outs will occur more frequently. Aging infrastructure will continue to age causing our rates to skyrocket! Our rates just went up again as of Jan. 1st - the 4th time in less than 3 years! (most recent increase before this one was November 2015!! - our rates have increased 46.6% over past 10 years!!) Another increase is planned for spring 2016. Oh my...

I am one of the lucky ones. I got my e-bill yesterday and was feeling a bit worried. I've heard of some people's bill going up more than 50%!! Those in rural areas and/or living on native lands were getting hit worse than us city dwellers.  Some people still heat with electricity - and have gone from paying $300+ a month to over $500! My bill only increased by $7.00 over last month which increased by $8.00 last November, 2015, which increased..........and so on. And then they're going to ding me again come spring! I guess my new habit of going to bed when it gets dark has paid big dividends - HAH!

Maybe I should stop cooking - now there's a thought! And I'll just store my food outside! Stop washing our clothes, get dressed in the dark!

How else can we save some of our electrical dollars??