Hydro sends me off on a Rant

Not having owned more than one property at a time prior to acquiring Turtle Falls, Ras & I are just now experiencing what those of you with seasonal properties have been experiencing for years...the picking of your pocket by the utility companies! This rant is directed specifically at Hydro but it could apply to all of them, since they all treat their customers equally appallingly. Don't we, Ras & I, live in a Pollyanna world, thinking that using no electricity for the next 6 months would result in no hydro bills for the next 6 months? There needs to be an "Occupy Utilities" movement, or something. It's astounding that we let these companies charge us for services not rendered. But that's what good Canadians do...we just take it, politely...all while bending over!

I'm in utter disbelief of the Hydro One bill that arrived in my mailbox this past week for Turtle Falls and my subsequent phone call to customer service.

Before turning off the breaker panel for the season, and thanks to Priscilla's hydro-hogging fridge, we used a total of $12.78 worth of electricity, but got charged 9.2% more for the electricity that got lost during transmission, for a grand total of $13.94. Add the delivery charge, regulatory charge, the ridiculous debt retirement charge, account set-up charge and, of course, HST and the bill came to $107.21. Now, I know this won't put us into bankruptcy any time soon but it's the principal of it.

I really don't know which one of these charges I dislike the most, but today I'll focus my rant on the delivery charge. It cost $55.10 to deliver that $13.94 worth of electricity. It only cost $50.11 to deliver $51.16 worth of electricity to our house in the city. I was told by Hydro One customer service that the delivery charge is based on the amount of electricity delivered. Am I the only one seeing an imbalance here? That's $3.95 to deliver every dollar of electricity to Turtle Falls vs. 98¢ to deliver each dollar of electricity to our city house. Then I'm told by the customer service agent to expect a monthly charge for the ability to have hydro at the ready if I need it. I told her I wouldn't be needing any until May and that's when I thought I heard her ask me to bend over. I could be mistaken about that though. I really want to Occupy...something! This short video pretty much covers how I feel about Hydro right now.

My only saving grace is that once our passive solar, off-the-grid house is built we can kiss Hydro One goodbye. We will become our own electricity producer, and because we will be producing the electricity right where it will be used there will be no transmission loss adjustment factor, no delivery charges, no regulatory charges, no debt retirement charges, no HST, and best of all, no power outages. No, wait...the best part will be no invoices from Hydro One in my mail box. Or...is the best part the family gatherings at our house when the power goes out at theirs? That should be about one family reunion per month based on our experiences at Turtle Falls so far. Who knew the dependable part-time power service of Hydro One would be such a big player in bringing families together?


Ok...I'm done now,
Mimi