If many of Flin Flon’s low-income residents are barely making ends meet now, which is indeed the case, then what will happen to them as the electricity supplier they co-own drastically hikes their bills in the coming years?
It’s a legitimate question that deserves a legitimate answer. Unfortunately, leaders from both the PC government and NDP opposition seem to treat skyrocketing hydro rates as a non-issue, the sort of thing only idealistic whiners bring up.
The Reminder pressed the previous NDP government on what it might do about rising power bills that disproportionately hurt low-income folks and those who live in older homes in colder climates including a large percentage of Flin Flonners.
While the politicians always used diplomatic language, their typical response can be dramatized by this imaginary conversation:
Low-income ratepayer: “I can’t really afford my electricity bill and I’m worried about it going up. Can you help me?”
Previous NDP government: “You should just be grateful you don’t live in another province, my friend! We have among the lowest power rates in North America!”
Low-income ratepayer: “But I’m not worried about those other places. I live here in Manitoba and I still find it hard.”
Government: “Brian Pallister will privatize Manitoba Hydro! If you think you have it hard now, just wait until that happens!”
Low-income ratepayer: “I wasn’t even making this a political issue.”
Government: “You should just be grateful you don’t live in another province, my friend!”
Last winter, The Reminder outright asked then-premier Greg Selinger whether northern Manitobans were justified in feeling frightened by projections that power rates would double over the next decade.
Selinger talked about Manitoba Hydro’s Power Smart programs, which help people pay for energy-saving upgrades to their homes, but he made no mention of stabilizing the rates that were causing the financial distress in the first place.
Nor did Selinger mention Manitoba Hydro’s history of using warm winters – which mean less electricity usage and thus lower revenues for the Crown corporation – as justification to jack up rates.
Even if all Manitobans got on board with Power Smart and made their homes more energy efficient, Manitoba Hydro would not stand idly by while its revenues plummet; it would quite likely increase rates even further.
Are Premier Brian Pallister’s PCs any better on the hydro file? While the Tories promised to curb electricity rates – a pledge that helped catapult them into office – Manitobans are still waiting for discernable action.
Just this past August, hydro rates jumped another 3.36 per cent, the latest in a seemingly never-ending string of small-sounding increases that add up to significant bucks over time.
Pallister has also dismissed the idea of a taxpayer-funded bailout for the financially troubled Manitoba Hydro. That’s unfortunate, because now the corporation will look to right its ship solely on the backs of ratepayers with even more rate
hikes. At least a tax increase could be borne largely by those with higher incomes; soaring hydro rates do not discriminate.
It’s bothersome that the NDP and PCs play politics with hydro rates. People worried about their power bills do not care about politics.
They care about the basic cost of living – and so should their elected representatives.
Local Angle is published on Fridays.
