Ontario Hydro Debt Reduction Charge

Ontario residents currently pay a debt retirement charge, a charge per kilowatt hour of electricity consumed that is added to electricity bills to help pay down the stranded debt of the former Ontario Hydro. This $0.0070 per kilowatt-hour surcharge is added to every customers monthly utility bill.

In his annual report delivered on December 5, 2006, Ontario Auditor General Jim McCarter announced that among a number of questionable expenditures was $127 million worth of goods and services using corporate charge cards, but with few slips or receipts to justify the charges.

We the undersigned agree that a $127 million adjustment needs to be made to compensate consumers for this unapproved use of taxpayer money, either by directly removing it from the current outstanding residual stranded debt or by a reduction of the monthly debt retirement charge.