Cottage owners, brace yourselves for hydro increases.
Ontario cottage owners are in for a shock this fall with electricity rates for seasonal customers set to rise by as much as 129 per cent.
The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) tasked Hydro One with developing a billing model that would eliminate the class under which most seasonal customers have their hydro fees assessed.
<section id="inread-wrapper-id-118" style="font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></section>In a letter to its customers last week, the electricity provider warned that if the OEB eliminates the seasonal rate class, hydro bills will rise for more than half of them.
A spokesperson for the OEB said if the seasonal class is eliminated, Hydro One customers will be moved to one of the utility's other three residential classes, based on the population density of the area and the infrastructure and equipment costs that come with delivering electricity.
Billing changes fair, board says
The OEB found some cottages are just as easy to supply with power as many year-round homes. Removing all seasonal users from the equation will make the billing structure fairer for everyone, the board says.
"This will ensure that seasonal customers pay the appropriate cost for their service they receive," wrote OEB spokesperson Mary Ellen Beninger.
But Hydro One says the new scheme, if implemented, would shift the burden of paying for power to those customers in rural and hard-to-reach areas, and said some cottage owners will see their bills skyrocket by as much as 129 per cent.
"An increase like that is disastrous," said cottager David Rogers, 78, whose family has maintained a wood-sided seasonal retreat outhwest of Ottawa on Christie Lake since 1946.
