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Hydro One Sale Confirmed Bad Deal for Ontario
October 29, 2015
Hydro One sale would mean long term pain for little short term gain
Queen’s Park – The Financial Accountability Officer’s scathing report released today confirms that the potential sale of Hydro One would be a bad deal for Ontario, Chatham-Kent-Essex MPP Rick Nicholls said.
“It was confirmed today that the sale of Hydro One would see little short term gain and plenty of long term pain,” stated Nicholls.
The Financial Accountability Officer’s report states that as a result of the fire sale, the province’s finances would be worse off than if they didn’t sell Hydro One. Mostly because of the revenue that Hydro One currently brings in to provincial coffers.
“The Wynne Liberals would get an initial boost of money to try to balance their budget, but this report confirmed that the province’s finances would be worse off within only a few years of the sale of this valuable asset.”
The sale of Hydro One would cost the province approximately $700 million in revenue every year, and the net profit could be as low as $1.4 billion.
The Ontario Liberals had previously claimed that the sale would generate $4 billion for unspecified infrastructure projects.
The report also predicts that the Hydro One fire sale will impact ratepayers. Coupled with the recent announcement that hydro rates will increase on November 1st, average Ontario families will continue to struggle to pay their hydro bills.
“It is crystal clear that this deal is not in the best interest of Ontarians. No one other than Wynne Liberals think this is a good deal. They need to listen to expert advice and do the right thing and immediately stop the sale of Hydro One,” Nicholls concluded.
