NEWS:

BELLEVILLE - Today, Lisa MacLeod, MPP for Nepean-Carleton, and Randy Hillier, MPP for Lanark, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington, were in Belleville to talk about three more ways Dalton McGuinty's expensive energy experiments are causing families', seniors' and businesses' hydro bills to skyrocket.

Another PC MPP, Jim Wilson, was in Belleville just seven weeks ago to talk about how the McGuinty government wants to keep the Debt Retirement Charge on hydro bills for another seven years, despite the fact that families have paid enough to eliminate the debt. On March 2^nd, just weeks after being in Belleville to talk about the issue, the PC Caucus put forward a motion asking for a forensic audit into the charge.  The McGuinty Liberals unanimously voted it down.  Since then, Ontario families and seniors have seen three more hits to their hydro bills.

After backtracking on a new offshore industrial wind farm in an effort to save Energy Minster Brad Duguid's Toronto seat, the McGuinty government announced a massive expansion of industrial wind farms elsewhere in the province in February. Families also found out last month that they are being stuck with an $18-million dollar bill for fines and legal fees local utilities incurred for overcharging them. And earlier this month, we learned that the installation of Dalton McGuinty's smart meter tax machines has crossed the $1-billion dollar mark. All of these examples result in one thing - higher hydro bills for families, seniors and businesses.

QUOTES:

"These are just the latest examples in a pattern of offenses that show no one in the McGuinty government is looking out for families and seniors and their ability to afford these skyrocketing hydro bills."

--Randy Hillier, MPP for Lanark, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington

"Instead of dabbling in expensive energy experiments that are causing families', seniors' and businesses' hydro bills to skyrocket - a Tim Hudak Ontario PC government will treat energy policy as an economic policy, not a social program."

--Lisa MacLeod, MPP for Nepean-Carleton

QUICK FACTS:

• Dalton McGuinty quietly announced it in a late day press release on February 11 that he was abandoning his plans for an off-shore wind farm project in Scarborough near Energy Minister Brad Duguid's riding. This is the latest admission by the McGuinty government that their expensive energy experiments have completely failed.
• Ontario Energy Board agreed in February to let a number of utilities raise rates to recover $17.7 million they paid in fines and legal costs after charging consumers excessive interest rates on late payments.
• An Ontario Energy Board report, released on March 3, 2010, shows the cost of installing so-called smart meters on Ontario homes and small businesses reached over $994.4 million as of September 2010.