ZR
11-27-2017, 08:08 AM
Friend of mine is closing his business n calling it quits over what he calls unaffordable hydro rates. Another member I know from the board will be doing the same thing for the exact same reason. I posted a short time back about a local business we deal with who have lost approx 2/3 of their commercial accounts due to them relocating south of the border and for the first time ever, forced to lay off bulk of his staff.
I'm disgusted.
Skyrocketing hydro rates are forcing many Ontario manufacturers to close, lay off employees or move south of the border.
Hydro rates have increased so dramatically under Ontario’s Liberal government, that the province’s once-cheap electricity prices are now the highest in the country. As a consequence, officials from American states are wooing Ontario businesses.
And it’s working.
“Our move is already underway,” said Peter Gossmann, vice president and general manager of Plasticap, a producer of caps for food companies, medical firms and other customers.
The company has 40 employees in Richmond Hill and is looking to expand with another 60 employees — only not in Ontario.
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“There could have been 60 more jobs here and 150 in three years,” said Gossmann, who will be setting up a new shop in Ohio to excape the 38% increase in the company’s hydro costs since January.
“If the Liberals win the next election and things don’t change, we may close here (in Richmond Hill). The province is at a tipping point. There is an impending disaster. People have to make the move or they won’t survive. I know we can’t keep absorbing this.”
Gossmann added incentives and costs in the U.S. are just too alluring to ignore.
“I’m born and raised here. My family is part of the community and I am appalled I have to make this decision to move,” Gossmann said.
Shalini Sheth, of Surati Sweet Mart in Scarborough, said she is testing the waters to move to the U.S. and is being courted to relocate by four different states.
“It’s cheaper in the U.S. and I’m doing a feasibility study,” she said.
Recruiters in Louisiana have approached her offering power at about one-third of the 22 cents per kilowatt her company pays in Ontario.
“It’s significant,” she said, adding hydro rates, on top of planned minimum wage increases are threatening the viability of businesses.
Sheth had looked at purchasing a vacant shop next door to her Scarborough store to add more production lines, but has soured on that idea.
She has 125 full-time employees and could add another 25 to meet the demands of her growing business.
“We did want to grow in Ontario, but with everything, it’s just too expensive,” Sheth said.
The smaller manufacturing sector are “second class” customers to hydro, insisted Jocelyn Bamford, vice president of Automatic Coating Limited and founder of the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses of Ontario.
The province will give financial breaks to those who don’t use hydro during peak hours of usage, but that doesn’t help much.
“Companies can’t shut down production and send employees home to get a break in the bill. It doesn’t make sense unless you are running 24 hours. Most run one, maybe two shifts,” Bamford said.
She said her Toronto company, which provides powder coatings for industrial or consumer products, has 80 employees.
“You have to move or stay and fight. Tons of companies are considering moving south and then there will be no turning back. Where will our kids work?” she added.
Bamford said if she relocated to New York state, her company could save $22,000 a month in hydro costs alone.
“The Liberal government is killing manufacturing one kilowatt at a time,” she charged. “This is everybody’s fight if we want a good economy.
The government just wants to be re-elected without understanding what they are doing to the manufacturing sector,” Bamford said.
Bruce Crilly, president of CPD Construction Products, was sent a letter from Hydro Ontario in May that showed his monthly electricity billings increased by 136%.
Crilly said no reason was offered other than delivery charges.
“I’m faced with an increase of 136%. I was flabbergasted. Who should I let go from my (Orangeville) plant to offset this outrageous increase?” said Crilly, who has been in business for 38 years.
“No one from Hydro One has come and told me why this is happening. I don’t want to terminate (any of my 12) employees, but I don’t know how to keep doing business.”
Four years ago, Hydro One came and replaced Crilly’s meters, saying they were faulty, and then gave him a bill for $4,000 suggesting he had underpaid the utility.
Hydro One has told Crilly he can realize savings on his bill by environmentally upgrading his lighting and machine motors at a cost of roughly $150,000.
“I’m willing to do that. It’s not a bad thing to want to conserve energy, but I still face a 136% increase,” he said.
“I know why the big guys are moving. As an employer and taxpayer I’m fed up. How can this be?”
For privacy reasons, the utility can’t discuss a specific accounts, such as Crilly’s, said spokesman Tiziana Baccega Rosa.
Hydro One routinely reviews and updates rate classifications of accounts based on usage.
“For those customers whose accounts are changing … we provide over a year’s notice so they can plan for how this change will affect them and we visit their establishment with an energy savings expert to discuss programs to help them make changes to their business to save money and take advantage of available funding for upgrades,” Baccega Rosa said.
I'm disgusted.
Skyrocketing hydro rates are forcing many Ontario manufacturers to close, lay off employees or move south of the border.
Hydro rates have increased so dramatically under Ontario’s Liberal government, that the province’s once-cheap electricity prices are now the highest in the country. As a consequence, officials from American states are wooing Ontario businesses.
And it’s working.
“Our move is already underway,” said Peter Gossmann, vice president and general manager of Plasticap, a producer of caps for food companies, medical firms and other customers.
The company has 40 employees in Richmond Hill and is looking to expand with another 60 employees — only not in Ontario.
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“There could have been 60 more jobs here and 150 in three years,” said Gossmann, who will be setting up a new shop in Ohio to excape the 38% increase in the company’s hydro costs since January.
“If the Liberals win the next election and things don’t change, we may close here (in Richmond Hill). The province is at a tipping point. There is an impending disaster. People have to make the move or they won’t survive. I know we can’t keep absorbing this.”
Gossmann added incentives and costs in the U.S. are just too alluring to ignore.
“I’m born and raised here. My family is part of the community and I am appalled I have to make this decision to move,” Gossmann said.
Shalini Sheth, of Surati Sweet Mart in Scarborough, said she is testing the waters to move to the U.S. and is being courted to relocate by four different states.
“It’s cheaper in the U.S. and I’m doing a feasibility study,” she said.
Recruiters in Louisiana have approached her offering power at about one-third of the 22 cents per kilowatt her company pays in Ontario.
“It’s significant,” she said, adding hydro rates, on top of planned minimum wage increases are threatening the viability of businesses.
Sheth had looked at purchasing a vacant shop next door to her Scarborough store to add more production lines, but has soured on that idea.
She has 125 full-time employees and could add another 25 to meet the demands of her growing business.
“We did want to grow in Ontario, but with everything, it’s just too expensive,” Sheth said.
The smaller manufacturing sector are “second class” customers to hydro, insisted Jocelyn Bamford, vice president of Automatic Coating Limited and founder of the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses of Ontario.
The province will give financial breaks to those who don’t use hydro during peak hours of usage, but that doesn’t help much.
“Companies can’t shut down production and send employees home to get a break in the bill. It doesn’t make sense unless you are running 24 hours. Most run one, maybe two shifts,” Bamford said.
She said her Toronto company, which provides powder coatings for industrial or consumer products, has 80 employees.
“You have to move or stay and fight. Tons of companies are considering moving south and then there will be no turning back. Where will our kids work?” she added.
Bamford said if she relocated to New York state, her company could save $22,000 a month in hydro costs alone.
“The Liberal government is killing manufacturing one kilowatt at a time,” she charged. “This is everybody’s fight if we want a good economy.
The government just wants to be re-elected without understanding what they are doing to the manufacturing sector,” Bamford said.
Bruce Crilly, president of CPD Construction Products, was sent a letter from Hydro Ontario in May that showed his monthly electricity billings increased by 136%.
Crilly said no reason was offered other than delivery charges.
“I’m faced with an increase of 136%. I was flabbergasted. Who should I let go from my (Orangeville) plant to offset this outrageous increase?” said Crilly, who has been in business for 38 years.
“No one from Hydro One has come and told me why this is happening. I don’t want to terminate (any of my 12) employees, but I don’t know how to keep doing business.”
Four years ago, Hydro One came and replaced Crilly’s meters, saying they were faulty, and then gave him a bill for $4,000 suggesting he had underpaid the utility.
Hydro One has told Crilly he can realize savings on his bill by environmentally upgrading his lighting and machine motors at a cost of roughly $150,000.
“I’m willing to do that. It’s not a bad thing to want to conserve energy, but I still face a 136% increase,” he said.
“I know why the big guys are moving. As an employer and taxpayer I’m fed up. How can this be?”
For privacy reasons, the utility can’t discuss a specific accounts, such as Crilly’s, said spokesman Tiziana Baccega Rosa.
Hydro One routinely reviews and updates rate classifications of accounts based on usage.
“For those customers whose accounts are changing … we provide over a year’s notice so they can plan for how this change will affect them and we visit their establishment with an energy savings expert to discuss programs to help them make changes to their business to save money and take advantage of available funding for upgrades,” Baccega Rosa said.