{"id":8165,"date":"2017-11-22T13:39:40","date_gmt":"2017-11-22T18:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/?p=8165"},"modified":"2017-11-22T13:42:13","modified_gmt":"2017-11-22T18:42:13","slug":"hydro-ones-plan-to-have-customers-pre-pay-for-electricity-will-hurt-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/22\/hydro-ones-plan-to-have-customers-pre-pay-for-electricity-will-hurt-families\/","title":{"rendered":"Hydro One\u2019s plan to have customers pre-pay for electricity will hurt families"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Nov 22, 2017 @ 13:39<\/b><\/p>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div><div class=\"divider\"><\/div>\n<p>In question period on Tuesday, Ontario NDP Energy critic Peter Tabuns called on the Wynne Liberals to stand up for Ontario families and direct the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) to stop the privatized Hydro One\u2019s plan to require pre-payment for power.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Hidden in Hydro One\u2019s distribution rate application for 2018-2022 are plans to replace recently installed smart meters with pre-payment meters, requiring customers to pay for electricity before they use it and creating a loophole to new rules banning winter disconnections.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201c<\/strong>Instead of reducing its rates, as the government promised would happen, the privatized Hydro One is seeking a 20 per cent increase,\u201d said Tabuns. \u201cBut there\u2019s more. On page 2,038 of the application, we learn that Hydro One wants to install pre-payment meters, which require the customer to pay first before they get any electricity.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverywhere pre-payment meters have been used, they have hurt struggling families.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Recently, the OEB issued a directive banning licensed electricity distributors from disconnecting homes for non-payment during winter months, but pre-payment meters would allow Hydro One to bypass this rule. Tabuns said the Liberal government is allowing the privatized Hydro One to use harmful Thatcher-era tactics to bypass the OEB directive and stop providing power to families that are unable to pay.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter Margaret Thatcher privatized the UK&#8217;s water system, utilities began installing these pre-payment meters,\u201d said Tabuns. \u201cThey hurt struggling families and created a public health crisis. The premier has hurt families in Ontario by privatizing Hydro One. Hydro One is installing pre-payment hydro meters so it can bypass Ontario\u2019s rules for disconnections. Hydro One won\u2019t have to disconnect anyone. The power will get cut off automatically if the customer doesn\u2019t feed the meter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWill the government direct the Ontario Energy Board to prohibit Hydro One\u2019s use of pre-payment meters?\u201d asked Tabuns.<\/p>\n<div class=\"grammarly-disable-indicator\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nov 22, 2017 @ 13:39 In question period on Tuesday, Ontario NDP Energy critic Peter Tabuns called on the Wynne Liberals to stand up for Ontario families and direct the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) to stop the privatized Hydro One\u2019s plan to require pre-payment for power. &nbsp; Hidden in Hydro One\u2019s distribution rate application for &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[463],"class_list":["post-8165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-provincial","tag-hydro-costs"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-02 05:49:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8165"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8166,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8165\/revisions\/8166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}