Hydro One’s costs keep charging up
Supply and demand can’t explain the rise in power rates, writes Bob Plamondon.
Hydro rates in Ontario are going up — by some reports as much as 42 per cent over the coming five years.
But oddly enough hydro rates have been rising while electricity demand has fallen. It’s no mystery as to why. The annual reports provided by Hydro One over the past five years spell it out in black and white. While we are consuming less, costs at Hydro One have risen dramatically, far outstripping inflation and the growth in our population.
Before asking for a relief in rates, better that we focus on controlling costs at Hydro One:
12 Percentage increase in the number of Hydro One regular employees over the past five years
6.8 Percentage increase in the population of Ontario over the past five years
57 Percentage of the Hydro One workforce that made more than $100,000 in 2012
924 Thousands of dollars paid to the Hydro One CEO in 2008
728 Thousands of dollars paid to the Hydro One CEO in 2013 (yes, it was lower in 2013)
38.5 Percentage increase in the costs of power at Hydro One over the past five years
3.6 Factor by which the cost of power at Hydro One exceeded the rate of inflation 5.7 Average in Hydro percentage One revenues increase over the past five years
1.8 Average Ontario over inflation the past rate five in years
32.1 Total percentage rise in Hydro One revenues over the past five years
61 Percentage increase in Hydro One profits between 2008 and 2013
10.8 Hydro One profits as a percentage of revenue in 2008
13.2 Hydro One profits as a percentage of revenue in 2013 7 Billions of dollars paid by Hydro One in dividends into the Ontario government coffers between 2008 and 2013
37 Percentage increase in Hydro One long-term debt between 2006 and 2012 7.8 Billions of dollars of debt on the books at Hydro One in 2012
1,612 Hydro One debt (2012) in dollars, divided by the number of Ontario households
0.1 Average percentage decrease in terawatt-hours (TWh) distributed by Hydro One over the past five years