Torn Elements

Oh Man, take care of everything that comes your way! Very soon economy turmoil would be over and more would around for you.

Sorry to hear about your financial troubles Larry , I find myself in the same boat financially but thankfully, living with parents has its benefits, this being one of them. That really sucks what Hydro has done to you and treated you. I know they are a business and need to be paid ontime but sheesh, you finally get the money to them and now they want the late payment plus your bill is increased for next time. Surely not a good situation to be in. I hope something breaks in your favor sooner rather than later.

Well my security depost was 765.00 because my hydro is also my heat (baseboard electric) so based on consumption. Then to boot after the agreement was made for the security deposit they send me a letter saying my usage has increased by $190.00 this winter so I also owe this amount for the current month. They said if I use more hydro then they forecast for I will have to pay that amount up front. If your account is not kept current for 1 year (1 day late doesn't fly) they could owe you thousands of dollars by the time that year arrives. I have made $1,600.00 in hydro payments since December of 08 and now they want that additional $190.00 along with next months payment of $465.00. Being a family of 5 on a fixed budget, the money is just not there so the problem keeps escalating. Can anyone offer advice as to who I need to speak with to make some reasonable payment arrangements. Although I have tried to remain calm talking with Hydro One Representatives it is very difficult as they can offer no options besides a Supervisor calling you back within 48 hours which from previous experience has never happened. They cannot even give you the name of the Supervisor who is going to call or even give a time for the call. I really need for someone to give me advise as to who I should call regarding this problem.

Since posting this I've found so many people with complaints about Hydro One. All of which are unfair billing stories.

It's amazing that a corporation which is ruled by the Ontario Government can treat people like this. They just seem to do what they want and nobody can do squat about it.

I still haven't found any help in this matter. Guess I should pay up or shut up.

I will pay the bill (hopefully)… MINUS the deposit. I *think* they can only disconnect you for not paying your usage… not the deposit.

The only downside there is they will keep adding late payment charges for the unpaid balance.

great article.visited your site for first time today,but i must say your write is of top notch and i will surely frequent your site.

I hear your pain my friend. My story sweet and simple, hydro one REFUSED to give me a week extension on my overdue bill. They say I have made too many arrangements, funny part is I had a bill of 960.00, which I paid 580.00 of. The remainder is only 2 weeks overdue and they still refuse the extension. They had the nerve to ask me to beg, borrow and steal the money to pay their bill. Add insult to injury, they have also requested a 500.00 security deposit because of my poor payment history. So I know exactly how you feel, I am a single mother of three young children, and am currently going to school, so money is very scarce in my home. Living in fear of disconnection, especially in the winter months is my reality and I too am becoming sick becasue of the stress. Hope all works out for you and good luck fighting the unfair battle.

Hydro One need competition! Being a monopoly they can treat people any way they like without fear that the 'customer' will take their business elsewhere.

Hydro is a basic necessity. Hydro One treats it like an optional luxury item.

Good luck to you (and all of us) with this. Hope it all works out.

Hey Larry,
Long time no see.

Disconnect notices on Dec 24? They are dirty, rotten scoundrels.

Would be SO nice to get off the grid! I've heard of new systems that force them to pay people because people's wind/solar systems provide power to them. I wonder how quick they pay… I bet they take their sweet time.

Do you know who else needs serious reform? 407ETR. They seem to be above the law in terms of collection policies, charging exorbitant interest rates and being able to collect beyond 7 years, even!

Revolution?
Too bad most of us Canadians are so passive about being royally screwed over repeatedly that change never ever happens.

Don't know about the 407… Because of hydro I'll never be able to afford to drive! lol

Yup. I have the same problem. I have struggled all winter to keep caught up, but this month I was 8 days late paying my bill. I only owed them $300. So I got a disconnection notice, and then a new bill, for the original $300, a new charge of $420, plus an $850 security deposit. I am a single mom who lost one job in December and have had my hours cut back on my other job. I simply cannot make this payment unless I start prostituting myself. When I called them, all I got was “yes, Miss Thomas”, “we understand your concern Miss Thomas.” I beg to differ. They absolutely would not budge on the security deposit and claimed that their hands were tied, blaming it all on the Ontario Energy Board. I have lived on my own and had hydro in my name since I was 17 years old. I have never, in my whole life, not paid a bill – hydro or anything else. And I am completely outraged that they are now calling me a “bad risk.” There is no way that I can pay more than $300 a month right now, so inevitably, they are going to cut my power off sometime in the next few months. I simply do not know what to do. I live in a small rural town in Northern Ontario, and finding another place to rent is next to impossible here. Eventually, after they have cut off half the population and realize that they are losing more income by only having half the customers, they will have to realize that people simply have no more to give and they will be forced to make some changes. But how many of us will be living in the street by then?? My father, who lives in Alberta, has always called this “communist ontario” and I have always laughed and thought he was just being crazy and dramatic. But I am beginning to wonder if he is really the crazy one, or am I??

Sounds like your bills are about as much as mine. Where did they come up with a deposit of $850 for you but only $188 for me? Doesn't make sense.

Judging by my site logs, there are many people searching for solutions to this unfair deposit. I get several search hits every day to this post by people having the same problems we are.

This appears to be verging on 'income discrimination' as far as I'm concerned.

It just doesn't appear there is anything we can do about it either.

Good luck to you on this.

clap clap clap, well said and I completely agree.

just opened my bill that arrived today and what do you know, $300 easy… last one was almost $400… I was recently let go from work myself only living on my spouses pay…

We moved to this house in November, not once was my bill ever past 200 at the other place and now its hitting almost 400 here…..

ridiculous.

The billing procedure and security deposit guidelines Hydro Scum operates under is criminal. They are the only utility I am aware of that has payment due terms of “due on billing date”. By the time I actually receive my bill in the mail and sit down to pay my bills I'm closer to the late payment date than the billing date! This leaves very little time or margin for delayed payment before you're security deposit hell.

The only way their outrageous security deposit policy will ever be changed is by a large media spotlight pointed at it. We aren't the only people that have been treated like low life hydro prisoners. There are thousands upon thousands of us out there who just can't believe a company is allowed to do these things. Especially a company that has been so mis-managed over the years and is linked to our goverment!!

Remember when we only had Bell for phone service? Remember how they treated people before they had competition? And how expensive long distance was? Before cell phones? Monopolies just shouldn't be legally allowed, it just creates monster corps that feel they can stomp on us at will.

Great Comment. I just love your tone… pissed off!

I wrote the original post back in February. I've just NOW (end of May) got the cash together to pay this bill (and security deposit) They were actually late in issuing the disconnection notice plus I got a month extension.

In that time I've received an additional bill bringing my total to over $1000! For 5 months of usage! I live alone and run minimal lights, etc. WTF! I froze my nuggets off last winter because I had my heat either set ultra low or off.

But, if you look at your bill, you'll see that less than HALF of the billed amounts is actual kWh usage. The rest is delivery, regulatory, debt retirement charges, this charge, that charge, and let's not forget my absolute favorite… Adjusted Kilowatt Usage.

Your Kilowatt usage is multiplied by 1.078 allowing Hydro One to charge their customers for power lost in THEIR lines and THEIR transformers before it even hits your home. Yes folks, this is power we're paying for that we DON'T EVEN GET TO USE!

Also, I have debts too! (Mainly hydro! lol) Why can I not add a “Debt Retirement Charge” to all my invoices? Hydro One is the only corporation that seems to be allowed to do this legally. And the best news is, WE get to pay this debt for them until 2016!

You mentioned the word 'criminal'… as good a word as any to describe this monopolistic menace!

Tell Hydro One you want 29.5 % interest on your deposit . They don’t have the right to say how much they will pay you . Thats your right . It’s your money they are holding. If they need a deposit , then they need to wave their late charges too . We need to get a protest going. Seems they are nailing thousands of customers with these secruity deposits .

I'm in the same situation. I hate them. How can this be legal? Thank the Good ol Liberal Dalton McGUILTY for this. *sigh*

I feel for you. We have found ourselves in a similar situation. We have struggled over the past few month since I required surgery a year ago and have not been working as many hours. I worked hard every month to juggle the bills and keep things up to date. Like you, I managed to “pull it off” or at least I thought I did. A little short one month and a little late two other months. We never had our electricity cut off but did have a couple of notices of warning when payments were late.
Just when I thought I was starting to get things on an even keel with all of the household bills. I get slapped with a letter saying that they require us to pay a 600 security deposit for “poor” payment history. I have already cut back to bare bones to try and get the bills paid and put food on the table. They were “kind” enough to spread this deposit out over a six month period, but I have no idea where I am going to get this extra $100/month out of my already meager food budget. I guess we will have to learn to make kraft dinner without the milk……..because we are not going to have any:0(

I'm not trying to be a smart ass here, but you people are making me feel lucky! I only had to pay a $188.00 deposit.

This post gets more hits by people looking for help in this matter than you can shake a stick at. Over 500 Google Search Hits since writing this in February.

People searching for things like:
“Help my Hydro is being disconnected”
“Complaints Hydro One”
“Unfair Hydro One Billing”
“Can Hydro One cut me off for not paying deposit”
“Outrageous Hydro One deposit”
and so on…

And these are from people WHO STILL HAVE THEIR POWER. (for the time being) What about people who are currently sitting in the dark because they couldn't “Pull it off”

There is also another menace out there who piggy-backs Hydro One. This is Ontario Energy Savings corp. These are the hydro retailers who try to sell you your power at a fixed rate (about 9 cents/kWh).

I had one of these idiots at my door the other day. He tried to make it sound like paying MORE for my hydro would help me out. Be careful here. These people work on Commission and will tell you anything to get you to sign up. Many people have been suckered in, and once signed up, there is no way to get out of their 5 year contracts. It's a legally binding arrangement that will send you to the poor house.

I only mention this here as a warning to others who may be so desperate in saving money on their hydro that they'll believe these people are actually trying to help them. Well, they aren't. It's just another commission to them.

Good luck to you, Jen. And everyone else at the clutches of this vampire corporation.

I am sadened to hear you problem. and good for you for saying something, they do not have a right to call us customers, your dead on, were prisoners of a system they know they own and we need , so they sit and laugh as we struggle , there day is coming in Ontario
Seems there is no real advocates to help people,the hydo has a motto pay what we say, when we sayand on our terms and time , or cut em off, we have rules but we don't need to follow them

Get this , I had 1 month of thousands my wife and pay on time !! last month I was late getting my $143 bucks paid, so, I got the next bill yesterday June 11 / 09, it said pay the new baclance of $398, that to cover the existing and last mnoths, and pay by the end of June

Today June 12 no further talk no notice at the door, my power was shut off, and my wife called and said she will go there now andpay cash so my fish don't die , and food won't rot

So as you see they win right, strong arm, big shots, fat cats, scew the public, raise taxes in a depression that will help, cut poor people off when they need a break,

Hey Larry hope you see this, and some day maybe I can give you a job, post to this again and let me know were you are, and to Hydro 1, Tillsonburg Hydo, Town of Tillsonburg

Your real good to your people, you raise tax, you do not collect our trash properly, you nit pic in council, you have no business savoy to get govenment funds into our town, you do not have a clue what type of business suits our town, well I do but f it , I think I'm heading out

And I have a new surprize, I am not broke, our company is in discussion to re loacate a factory and the town of Tillsonburg was on the list, I will see the town never see's us there, I live there FOR NOW , but maybe once house markets get better, a move is in order, as it will likely be a ghost town sooner than later

So in close, to my friends without jobs, keep your head up, try and make a job for yourself, always talk and fight the man any way you can, lots of pokes add up to punches, post your thoughts, get them were you can, And Good Luck

Terry

I have fish too. Wasn't going to give them up for anything!

I'd love to send my logs for this article to a TV news station or Newspaper. It clearly shows many people are struggling to keep up with Hydro One's demands. I don't really follow TV or radio news, so I'm not sure if anything has ever been said about Hydro One to this point.

It's been over 2 years since I've been able to pay a hydro bill on time. My payment cycle looks like this:

1-Receive bill. Too broke to pay it, ATM. Put it aside.
2-Receive cutoff notice. Call them. Get 1 month extension. (Effectively 6 weeks from receipt)
3-Starve for 6 weeks. Cut back, panic, skip meals, lay awake at night worrying. Lose mind.
4-Pay bill. By now it's anywhere between $400 – $600. (It was $800 last time!)
5-Breath sigh of relief. Open mailbox – receive new bill.
6-Repeat!

So far I've been lucky. Managed to squeeze things enough to make it. Luck runs out though.

I actually get worried now if the disconnection notice is late in coming. The last time the notice was late I had the urge to phone them to see if everything was okay. LOL

Take care and good luck with the relocation of your company.

(Contact me privately for my location. Thx)

Update from comment last week.
I came across this forum and made my comment out of desperation for my situation with being served with a hydro penalty (security deposit)
This forum and everyone's comments just sickened me and gave me the courage to make one more attempt to negotiate some kind of compassionate reconsideration on the outrageous request for more money from a family who is obviously already struggling.
I phoned hydro one and spoke with a representative and explained that I just wanted to be able to pay my bill and that the additional monthly payments toward the security deposit were making it very difficult for me to keep up with the payment. The request could not be handled at the base level and I was transferred to a senior representative who listened to my appeal. She immediately said that she could not change a decision that was already made with another representative. I continued my appeal stating that I understood that but that I was struggling and that I was not aware of the “poor payment” consequences until I had been informed of the security deposit. I explained that I was just very proud of myself for keeping our heads above water and now they have forced me back down a road of struggling to come up with even more money. At this point I had already made one monthly payment towards the security deposit with 5 more to go. The representative asked me to hold on for a moment and came back on the line about 2 minutes later and said that she had removed the penalty and had applied the $100 “security payment” toward my next bill.
THAT SIMPLE!?!
I believe I was very fortunate to have just got the right person at the right time, but this proves that they have some amount of flexibility.
Larry, I also agree with your warning for people to be aware of the “Ontario Energy Swindlers” These people are pushy and convincing and taking advantage of naive people. They visited my 80 yr. old parents just last week and my mother was quick enough to turn them away before they got their foot in the door.

Great news Jen! Thanks for stopping back and letting us know.

There's no doubt your reply will help the many people currently searching for solutions to this unfair deposit. Hopefully they will keep that 'one person' on staff who has a heart.

Too bad I just caved in and gave them their blood money. Too late now, I guess.

It's nice to see a positive reply to this post. Thx.

I agree – we are too passive.
It is sad that we pay this debt retirement charge while they
lavish huge salaries and bonuses on Executives. And just
what do they need high priced Executives for? – are they
a leading edge tech company or deal with tough competition?

The most simple response is DITTO! I have similar horror stories. I have had hydro cut off, without a disconnection notice, and my two $300 fish died and everything in m y large freezer went bad. We had moved into a new house – our first! We called Ontario HydroOne repeatedly over not receiving the bill, and they said it sometimes takes 3-5 months for new home owners – not to worry. We went on vacation (camping), and came back with everything gone bad! The smell of dead fish is revolting! After sorting it all out, the hydro company had shut us down after 3 months of non-payment, after repeated phone calls to them. We also had a $2000.00 bill from the previous owner which had died. I had to fight tooth and nails to get out of that one! They accused me of lying, and said that someone had to pay it! I had to go to a Lawyer! I never got reimbursed for the loss of my food or fish.

Now, my husband and I are quite ill; he is on chemotherapy and is wasting away, and quite cold all the time. I was in a serious car accident (hit by a drunk driver, with no insurance, and who was never charged!). I am unable to work. We have had to go on welfare and at $989.00/month, we are losing everything! Hydro is disconnecting us again! We are in a rural area, and apparently a vehicle and insurance and phone are luxuries. So is hydro. My argument is that hydro has become a necessity, especially during an illness. Hydro ONe is refusing to accept a payment plan that we can manage. My hydro consumption is minimal – wood stove for heat, and a microwave oven to cut costs. I pay more for the delivery charge, the Ontario Debt Retirement Charge and Regulatory charges, plus taxes, than I do for the electricity I consume. It is criminal!

We all need to start registering our complaints with the Ontario Energy Board, and our MPP's. I have. If enough of us do, maybe they will listen. – good luck all!

I agree – we are too passive.
It is sad that we pay this debt retirement charge while they
lavish huge salaries and bonuses on Executives. And just
what do they need high priced Executives for? – are they
a leading edge tech company or deal with tough competition?

The most simple response is DITTO! I have similar horror stories. I have had hydro cut off, without a disconnection notice, and my two $300 fish died and everything in m y large freezer went bad. We had moved into a new house – our first! We called Ontario HydroOne repeatedly over not receiving the bill, and they said it sometimes takes 3-5 months for new home owners – not to worry. We went on vacation (camping), and came back with everything gone bad! The smell of dead fish is revolting! After sorting it all out, the hydro company had shut us down after 3 months of non-payment, after repeated phone calls to them. We also had a $2000.00 bill from the previous owner which had died. I had to fight tooth and nails to get out of that one! They accused me of lying, and said that someone had to pay it! I had to go to a Lawyer! I never got reimbursed for the loss of my food or fish.

Now, my husband and I are quite ill; he is on chemotherapy and is wasting away, and quite cold all the time. I was in a serious car accident (hit by a drunk driver, with no insurance, and who was never charged!). I am unable to work. We have had to go on welfare and at $989.00/month, we are losing everything! Hydro is disconnecting us again! We are in a rural area, and apparently a vehicle and insurance and phone are luxuries. So is hydro. My argument is that hydro has become a necessity, especially during an illness. Hydro ONe is refusing to accept a payment plan that we can manage. My hydro consumption is minimal – wood stove for heat, and a microwave oven to cut costs. I pay more for the delivery charge, the Ontario Debt Retirement Charge and Regulatory charges, plus taxes, than I do for the electricity I consume. It is criminal!

We all need to start registering our complaints with the Ontario Energy Board, and our MPP's. I have. If enough of us do, maybe they will listen. – good luck all!

they are not billing you they are billing your legal fiction. look up the definition of legal fiction. look up ‘rob menard’ and ‘mary croft’. you became a legal fiction when you were registered at birth. A corporate entity. The government uses that corporate entity to float loans etc. All you have to do is tell them you know that they are using your name without your permission. you are worth far more than you know…..they know it..
join the world freeman society. God did not mean for us to live this way. The world is controlled by evil and greed. i hope you will check it out.
sorry about the lack of caps, my shift key isn’t working.

ask yourself this. are they dealing with real money? No. They are digits. Digits that represent money but it’s not real money at all. What are they out? The bank is not required to keep more than 10 percent of your deposit in the bank. For every 100 you have in there they only need to keep 10. So it’s not real. They are printing money, counterfeit money as there is no Gold standard behind it and hasn’t been for a long time. Read, ‘how i clobbered every bureaucratic, cash confiscatory agency known to man’ by mary croft.

I just got a bill in July and a deposit demand for 388.11, have zero idea how they came up with that number.
I told them I couldn’t pay it until I was working again in Sept. 2009
They said it had to be paid within 48 hours and to ask a friend. Something I will not do. Actually I thought it quite rude of them to say that. I live on a tiny ammount of money in the summer, I teach and am self employed and can’t collect EU.
So I am on a strict budget. I pay my bills, but not often ontime, sometimes I have to wait a month because other bills come at the same time and I have to cut them into months. I did not have any EXTRA to give them. I told them I can’t go get electricity anywhere else, that hydro was not a priviledge but a necessity and that they always get their money within 2 months, not only that, my bill’s don’t run over 160.00 every two months. So the large deposit seems strange. I’ve also been getting calls from Enbridge I’m 3 days late paying. It’s frightful. My father, years back only paid all the bills twice a year, all of them. He said there was no way they were going to take his interest away that he made within those months. It was a great savings for the family. Now adays, that is not the option. I called a house builder to set up an appointment to build an ecohouse with windmill, solar panels, etc…
I’m also writing my MP and many others. This is nuts, we do not live in the tropics, and our homes would be destroyed without electricity. Our business our sanity, our health..
They are treating citizens of Ontario like dogs and loosers if they can’t see there is a rescession on. I want legislature that says that you can’t turn off the lights in the winter months if there are children and if there has been a slump in income.
I want this Deposit crap to disappear. You can’t get blood from a stone!
If someone has been paying the total off within 2 months, I want this Deposit crap to disappear. I’ve been at my address for 18 years, I’m not a flight risk, they get there money, I am not 1Cent behind on any electricity I’ve used. I don’t get it.
Are they starving or are they vultures? I’m not done with this, I’m only starting.
In the meantime, I am looking for property to build on while others are looking for work, others looking to just get by and being forced to pay UNOWED money.
It makes zero sense. A late fee is already on the bill, but “DEPOSIT” ?
It urks me, to think I live in a country that does this to it’s citizens.
I’ll keep you posted.

Definitely keep us posted.

I’m anxiously(?!) awaiting yet another Disconnection Notice. Yup! It’s time to dance with these wannabe mafia executives once again. And… Once again I have no cash to work with atm.

Like you, I am not willing to borrow cent-one just to make them happy. If I can’t raise the cash to pay them, then I am certainly not going to borrow from family or friends if I am unsure of my ability to pay it back. I’ll sit in the cold and dark before that happens!

I mentioned this in earlier replies: “Hydro is a necessity. Not a luxury!” Disconnection simply should not be an option; especially in winter months.

If it was just a case of paying simple kWh usage it wouldn’t be so bad. Give us a break on all that other crap that appears on the bill. Usage accounts for LESS THAN half of the amount due. It’s all the other crap they tack on our bills that makes Hydro outrageous.

It’s funny how they took over $200 as a deposit when I first got connected then refunded it to me 3 years later. Then they turn around and want it back again shortly after.

Who runs this corporate empire? Darth Vader? “I find you lack of willingness to pay… disturbing”

Hi Everyone! Wow…I must say (don’t hurt me) it’s nice to know that I’m not alone! About 8 months ago I started getting much larger hydro bills…out of nowhere. With 3 teenage boys at home I was “used to” bills averaging about $250 with them being more in the deep winter. All of a sudden I was receiving bills that were between $550 and $1000 and of course fell behind in paying them….who can keep up with that? They were more than all my other bills including my mortgage put together! So when I fell behind and was having trouble catching up…you guessed it…I got a disconnection notice as well as a notice informing me that as I had received 2 disconnection notices and apparently was working on the 3rd as I couldn’t catch up…they sent me a “request”..who am I kidding…a demand for $1000.00 plus the outstanding amount of my bill….the highest bill that I have sitting on my desk states that the Total amount that you owe … $2,229.26 that of course includes the outstanding bill…or should I say bills as they of course take any money you send them and apply it to the deposit before applying it to the actual bill…so of course I was behind going on 2 months!!
I kept phoning them and telling them there was something wrong and asking them to come to my home and check what was up….they just kept telling me that I must be using more hydro…more people in the house, more appliances, electric heat…the list just went on and on….they didn’t care that I kept telling them that everything was the same as it had been the year before…but because I had only purchased my house at the end of Aug’07 they didn’t have enough historical data I believe they said to make a judgement….I was told to keep paying, phoning in my meters and eventually they may be able to do something. They just wouldn’t come out to my home to investigate to see if there was a problem with my hydro supply or anything.
Now as it turns out I have figured out what the problem was! I live in the country on an acreage and therefore have a drilled well. The end of June I was outside working in my yard doing the flower thing…and there was one of those big tire planters around my well…and while I was cleaning up the debris from there I noticed that I could faintly hear the submersible pump running and throughout the day everytime I went near there I could hear it running. No one was in the house, no laundry running, nothing on…no reason for my pump to be running. I called in a well specialist and when he checked it he told me that my pump was pretty much “pooched” and that it was “stuck on” and apparently had been running for some time (I’m guessing about 8 months! GRRR)! I’ve changed out the pump, added a swimming pool pump and a water treatment system to my hydro load….and am in the midst of writing to HydroOne and showing them the comparison and demanding my deposit back! If they would have listened to me from the beginning and come out and did an inspection they would have found the problem and both my family and HydroOne would have been “happy” so to speak! I believe that it is their right (or apparently legal so to speak) for them to request a deposit if a customer is new or has been late paying on 3 bills….but if they would have investigated like I requested the problem would have been solved…..So we’ll see what happens!

FYI I forgot to mention that my last two bills since I’ve changed out the pump, that I’ve received from HydroOne are under $220.00…nothing like telling them “I told ya so!”

it’s about taking your homes away..do some research..the banks, the utilities and the government are all in cahoots…sorry to say

I can relate – I received a disconnection bill for $2700 and 6 days to pay it. I was recently laid off but don’t have the hours to collect EI, so my spouse is the only one bringing in an income.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, though. You can’t fight Hydro (not alone, anyway), but there are programs to help you out.

In the Toronto area (there is a list of other communities that qualify for this), there is the Emergency Energy Fund that can help, but if you’re like me and in a small northern community, go to Ontario Works (welfare)- they will assess the situation and pay the bill for you (you don’t have to be receiving OW to qualify).

I agree. I hATE hydro one. We have not been cut off but have been late. Now their requiring a 350 deposit on top of our normal bill. We are also struggling and we already owe 250 so that makes it 600. We just paid them 1200 from a previous home that was on equal billing (all electric!) Give me a break. I have dealt with Wasaga Beach hydro and never had this problem. Like you how do you come up with the deposit? Cant pay regular bill how are you suppose to pay a deposit! Should be a law about this. If you don’t pay and they cut you off you have to pay reconnect charges also.

Dont know where my other post went. Hope it doesn’t get posted twice. I HATE hydro one. I just finished paying off a 1200 dollar bill from previous home which was all electric and on equal billing. Had trouble paying and now they want a deposit. They are crooks. I am only going to pay my actual bill and see what happens. I was also told that they cannot disconnect for outstanding deposit but not so sure. I am going to contact marketplace and see if they will do a story on this. I will give them this link.

they will apply it to your deposit and tell you, you have an outstanding balance owing.

I used to work in the Hydro One office taking calls from you guys and I have to agree the deposit rules truly suck..as agents wed rather give people a break but the computer wont even allow it.hydro one passes the buck saying its the oeb but thats a load of crap since the oeb just rubber-stamps their request anyways.

the call centre is outsourced to this cheap-ass company from the u.s. called Vertex, and is ridiculously understaffed..can you imagine how stupid I feel saying “oh sorry sir we dont have the fax you sent three days ago” that would never happen in a normal company

tip -if anyone gets slammed with a security deposit you can push the agent to give you up to 6 installments..hope this helps a bit

l’m laid off ,l just claimed bankrupty and l just got a $750.00 security deposit request from hydro one ,what the frig, emailed the priemer ,wondering why the hydro gets to threaten families, PAY IT OR ELSE, sounds like the loan sharks of the old days ,guess l’ll be sitting in the dark and going with out heat for awhile or maybe for ever, someone needs to give those bloodsuckers some competition. l’ll switch. the head of hydro one needs to live in the shoes of the poorer people of this province ..and the government needs to , too, prehaps a look at the life lifestyle will open some eyes..see you in the dark.

The bastards disconnected me. They said they left warning but they did not – when I said this it’s after all just a courtesy. They said I was disconnected b/c as a new homeowner I had not (nor had my lawyer) informed them on my moving in. When I got home my alarm was going off every 5 minutes because my alarm keypad is run on electricity. I had to turn it off that night b/c it was terrifying my daughter. It took them 5 minutes to get here, and 1 minute to turn it off. The Charge…? 185!!! I later spoke to my lawyer who had informed them off my move. But that’s not good enough for them, I still chose to reconnect at night (even though it should have never been turned off since my lawyer told them I was moving in). That charge is nearly all I have for groceries every month. I’m so PISSED. They are money-grabbing crooks. And guess what else? I was told I could not even speak to a manager b/c the situation was resolved!!! Is there anywhere we can go for help against these bastards?

They just did it to me…got the bill today. They added 488 in a deposit. I want to put an article in the paper. They do this to us even though we were never cut off…just late. Plus recession and being in second career…not easy to pay on time but we still always pay. They told me I can pay the deposit in 6 payments if I want….assholes.

1.5 million canadians out of work, highest employment ever, hydro one too help the economy is raising our hydro. i just received 1 week before christmas a bill asking for a 880.00 security deposit. it is against the law to cut hydro between nov 11 & april 1. these money laundering basterds can wait. they invest our money for high interest & pay us 2% on our deposits. maybe our government should do something too protect hard working canadian famillys & our economy.

Happy New Year to our Prime Minister…

If you would like to wish a Happy New Year to our Prime Minister and his team, you can contact Prime Minister Stephen Harper at this email address: pm@pm.gc.ca

The Government of Ontario and their Energy Board,can be reached by sending Premier Dalton McGuinty a message at the following website address:

http://www.premier.gov.on.ca/feedback/feedback.asp?Lang=EN

But, before you wish them a Happy New Year, you should read the following text…
During the Christmas season, many of us may pay our bills later than planned. While doing my monthly bill payments, I took the time to read some of them closely. I found that the late payment interest on Bell Canada is 26.82% annually. I looked at my other bills and noticed that the annual interest rates are the following: Bell Mobility 26.82%, Enbridge Gas 19.56%, and Hydro One 19.56%. Oddly, when you deposit money into your own bank and if you are lucky, you receive 1% interest annually.
In these economically hard times, many people have found out that Hydro One collects a security deposit, if you have a history of late payments. The Ontario Energy Board approves this practice and sets the guidelines. The interest rate on the security deposit, that is held for a minimum of one year, is the “Prime Business Rate” less 2%. This means the interest paid will be 0.25% annually, on your security deposit…Imagine if you are obligated to give a security deposit to all of your major suppliers: Telephone, Gas Suppliers, House taxes, Utilities…pleasant dreams. To make this more clear; Hydro One will charge you almost 20% if you are late but they pay you only 0.25% when they take money from you without your consent. Something is clearly wrong with this picture and our Government approves this policy.
Regretfully we vote for people at the head of our Government who little by little, aggravate the misery of Canadians, who already suffer in today’s difficult economy.
Remember this letter when you send your New Years wishes to the head of our Government. Also keep it in mind when election time arrives, as it is not certain that the opposition will do any better.
Happy New Year to all Canadians, and bear in mind that you will be supported by our Government,when it is solely in their own best interest.

They are not paying you 2%. They are paying you 0.25%. Go on to the Hydro One’s website and read all about their security deposit…..

I sent a letter to many newspapers, harper, mcguinty etc. Posted on your blog. We need more than one person sending letters…..
I copied a link to your blog and sent to a newspaper too…

i'm sorry to tell you..but it's about putting you out of your homes. There is no solution when you are dealing with a corporate entity. You are a commodity that has run it's course.
Get close to relatives if you have some but better yet. leave the cities and come together in a rural atmosphere. They do want you gone. Do some research. Don't believe anthing they tell you. God bless ..please learn to pray

i'm sorry to tell you..but it's about putting you out of your homes. There is no solution when you are dealing with a corporate entity. You are a commodity that has run it's course.
Get close to relatives if you have some but better yet. leave the cities and come together in a rural atmosphere. They do want you gone. Do some research. Don't believe anthing they tell you. God bless ..please learn to pray

Hydro One!

Why is it that the charges on our Hydro One Bill are so outrageous! We work, we pay taxes, we buy food to feed our families and assist our children in education and life. My 2 year old daughter will soon be calling Hydro to complain about lack of food and perhaps the inability to actually have an education. We are a working couple with one child, my wife and I both make a decent salary but yet the cost of Hydro and ability to maintain proper payments is a challenge. Our average bill right now (winter months) is $1000.00 per month. We live in the dark in fear of turning on lights due to hydro consumption. Everything we do is carefully considerate of hydro consumption. Why are we paying Hydro's debt retirement fund, Hydro surely are not going to pay for my debt retirement no time soon. My bill would resemble something like this: $350.00 hydro consumption in kW hrs at the given rates…then an additional $350.00 to $400.00 for “delivery” (a charge that is actually greater than my consumption)…don't forget the fluctuating debt retirement charge of $10-$30 plus a per kW hr charge on “line-loss” (power loss over lines and transformers – owned by Hydro One)POWER that I pay for that actually never makes it to my home for me to use properly. This charge should be a credit to my hydro bill for I am losing power that I am unable to use in my home. Does our “trusted” government, who is to have it's citizen's best interest in mind actually giving consideration to the “HYDRO” crisis as much as the consideration they give to a crisis that is not in our country. Look at the millions of “lost” dollars for Haiti, that is our tax money hard at work, I don't disagree with aid of less fortunate individuals, but what about those that actually live in Canada. We have our own crises and no light at the end of the tunnel. Why is the automotive industry able to receive “our” money and not the actual citizens that put the money there in the first place? We are in need of relief from sharks such as Hydro One and Union Gas. We live only to provide their executives with extravagant salaries & “bonuses”.
The outrageous theft of incomes by the utility services such as the aforementioned, Bell certainly was in a similar “power of God” scenario, until other competition moved in, now “we”, the people, have alternate options for those services resulting in manageable bills for luxuries. Hydro is not a “luxury” anymore we require this service in order to live as human beings – this is called evolution. Living in Northern Ontario results in extremely cold days and nights, how are we to survive these conditions with the inability to pay for services that keep us alive. I am sure that, “god-forbidding it”, death is the only relief available from the Hydro “disease”.

Does our government actually care about its citizens and the fact that remains a mystery – HYDRO? The over charging, blood demanding criminals must be controlled some how. Do they not realize that we are in economically challenging times!!! It is coming to a decision pay hydro or buy food…HYDRO is certainly going to disconnect us. And food keeps us alive to continue working to pretty much pay two things – HYDRO and TAXES!!

PS: now with HST about to hit Ontario – what are we to do about this additional increase on our Hydro bill? Will our governent help us?

Look…I've been here before to try to tell you people what is going on but you refuse to listen. This is the last time i'm going to tell you and if you don't get it or won't listen than you are on your own. Look up the North American Union and the Security and Prosperity Partnership. Both will unite us with america and mexico more than we would like. If you would also look up the UN and The Copenhagen agreement. Better yet, look up Lord Monckton and is “obama to cede U.S. sovereignty” Look it up on youtube. Look all these up on youtube. You assume these are just kids on youtube? no…it's people trying to inform you. I can tell you that the agenda for our government and the obama government is to deindustrialize canada and america and to turn them into third world countries. You will learn to suck the teet of big government or you will die quietly thankyou. Forget your utilities..they are going to get much worse. You will eventually be forced out of your homes and perhaps into apartments. They can keep better track of you that way. They want a socialist/fascist system and you might be in the way. Do some research for God's sake. Seek the Lord in these things because he is an immediate help in time of need. If you don't want to research what is coming than you are on your own. God bless. We are in for a rough ride and i suspect, very soon, another false flag like 911. Take care of each other it's all you got, besides Jesus of course.

Hi:
We just got our latest hydro bill/disconnection notice today.
Past due – $700
Current bill – $500 +
We are told that with this (the second) disconnection notice in two months)
we will be facing a deposit of over 2X our highest bill in the last 24 months.
Wow. That's really nice, eh!
We are depending on an insurance policy to try and keep our heads above water since a serious accident disabled my husband last June. Said insurance policy has a habit of 'forgetting to send out the odd two week payment' – maybe they're related to Hydro One! As a result, it all plays havoc with bill payments.
When I looked at the latest bill, I see that just over $200. was actual consumption.
An additional $188. was charged for 'delivery charge' Cripes, even Canada Post doesn't cost that much, or Purolator, or any one else.
I have to wonder, how much of all this blood money is going into already rich pockets? Perhaps Premier McGuilty, perhaps you would like to come clean?
Perhaps some of the Hydro One 'Exectutive' (I'm not sure what Executives do except count 'delivery charge' money; perhaps they may have had to deepen their pockets to hold all the lovely currency flowing in.
Perhaps we've all been too quiet for too long in this province.
If my typing strokes appear to be done with some sharp staccato, believe me, the keyboard is also suffering.
Yes, we can write the newspapers, we can contact the news agencies, we can protest to Hydro One, to the Premier's office, and on and on ad nauseum, but all it really does, is increase our consumption of Hyrdo One's precious power as we call, use our computers, and so on and so on and so on.
Can we do with less? Heck, yes. Turn it all off.
Start heating with wood.
Use the old coal oil lamp.
Go to bed earlier.
Play cards, read books (in the daylight), instead of watching tv.
It may be the slow, gradual way, but we'll have their tight little hydro parts right where we want them. With little demand, they'll have to come up with some gimmick to get customers back…..hmmmmm, a bit radical maybe, but when nothing else helps, get em where it hurts, in their own pocket book.
Don't know how many of us can pull this off, but regardless, if we can all do a little, then perhaps it may snowball into an effective mass of protest.
Good luck, everyone, I'm going to turn off my computer now, and hope to keep it that way……

I just got a bill today also they want a 850.00 deposit. I will not pay and I plan on fighting it. I'm wondering if going to your MP would help.

LarryMonte, you may find that you already have a deposit with them, and they are simply adding to it. I do not believe that the amount of your deposit is shown on each bill. You may want to check to see how much they currently have of your money

We have battled this before and much like you have done our best to keep up with the Hydro bills, paying them on time mostly, but when they issue actual bills that make up for estimated bills, we get swamped and take a month or two to catch up. It is funny that although they charge such a deposit, they don't apply it towards your bill when they issue a disconnect notice – they did this to us at a previous residence and though they had more on deposit than the overdue balance, still sent disconnect notices. Even the ombudsman is a sham here. They simply took Hydro One's word and closed the file without any recourse. When we moved and closed the account, suprise a cheque came in the mail. I think it is a way to either balance their books or earn revenue. BTW, we have been late on three occasions in two years here.

Larry your bill is nothing compared to mine hydro one called me today we have slipped through their system 2 times avoiding getting disconnecting i just dont know how were going to be able tpo pay a years worth of hydto … you know if it was 188.00 a month i would love it and gladly pay that amount but …i have asked hydro one to look into our hydro for awhile ..for one yr hydro were looking at 7500.00 12 months so your 188.00 i would welcome with open arms
i asked to make payment arrangements i was willing to give them 2000.00 back in feb and they said all or nothing so having 2 kids here and my husband and i figure it would be smarter to purchase a generator to help give us heat and freezing since they would only accept the money and cut us off anyways with jobs being next to notyhing everyone laid off our morgage of 1200.00 and living on 1400.00 a month hmmm yes with food banks and family helping we could eat but we had no money for other things like hydro…what the hell am i suppose to do ??? its not like we went of a lets use as much hydro as possible were never going to pay this bill we couldnt i'm working 3 days a week now and my husband is looking for work the odd reno job here and there .. there is nothing …what can we do ??/ not a damn thing our hydto to get it back on is going to cost us over 8000.00 with their damn deposit request

sorry for the typos …. my nerves are shot and looking at losing alot if things dont change around … hydro one can kiss my ass omg, i pay them half of what i make a year and i dont run anything different than anyone else ..we live in the country so it cost me 150.00 to 180.00 just to get hydro delivered to us yaaaaaaaaaaaaaa lucky us ffs

I have something that may help some people. If you would like to contact me you can email me at artsy_chic2000@yahoo.ca

I have some information that may help some people. If you want you can email me at artsy_chic2000@yahoo.ca

No need to apologize.

I have a friend who also slipped through the cracks then got a huge bill they could never hope to pay. They're on disability and he ended up letting the disconnection happen and I managed to get him hooked up under my name.

If I'm correct, that bill is still outstanding 7 years later. We'll score one point for the 'little guy' on that one.

I only tell you that story as it might be a solution to someone if not yourself.

Unfortunately, we're dealing with the Energy Mafia here. They have the Government wrapped around their little finger and there isn't thing one we can do about it.

The CEO of Just Energy (rip off artists) sits on the Ontario Energy Association's Board of Directors. That alone should tell you how corrupt the system is.

I feel for you, Kathy. There's a lot of us being held down financially because of these bastards. I fear it's only going to get worse before it gets better.

Please share

Hello again Mr. Monte:
Please contact me directly through my email from your regular email as what i have to explain may take a little time and some links. I assure you, if you can get your head around it it can make life better for everyone here.

they want 400 from me ,but advice to fight back,bombard your local mp with emails,copy paste emails from here ,send them,one email to them represents 100 people with the same complaint.start petition on a web site or face book or something.email talk radio shows,their policy is an attack on the poor,they know u cant fight back ,no money,class action lawsuit anybody,any lawyers reader this,do it before u lose your hydro

I feel ya man, they refuse to even let me make payment arrangements. They told me they want $900 or they are cutting me off.

Atleast they didn`t take your sense of humour.Ya i`ve been their too and it sucks.Heat or food or rent….what a choice…I felt a little guilty laughing at some of your wise crack comments…you`ve got a great way of expressing yourself.I guess we can`t really afford tears after hydro gets done sucking us dry…hope things look up for you all soon……

I can't agree with you more about Hydro One. I get a bill in from them during the winter months for only (60 days hydro) for get this $2,889.89 and I only have a 2 bedroom home with only me living in it. My last bill for the winter months Dec.16/Feb 21 was $1,875.86 can you believe that. Plus on top of that they wanted a $800.00 security deposit cause I paid late a couple of times. Being on a pension I can not afford the hydro bills. What the heck does Hydro One want my blood well they can have it Cancer and all.

Not anymore it isn't against the the law for them to cut off the hydro in the winter months, since they managed to have it deregulatized we as Ontarians are suffering with outragious increases and security deposit demands. I found out this when Hydro One threatened to shut my hydro off in December cause I couldn't pay the full bill of $2,889.89 when they wanted it. I threatened to take them to court for harassment and verble abuse and they just laughed at me and hung up the phone. Since then I have managed to clear the bill off only to receive another bill this time for $1,875.86 for (60days) and this did not include the security deposit they want on top of the amount they already have of $500.00 they now want an additional amount of $800.00. I have had enough of Hydro One. If given a chance I would counter charge them for the use of my phone and time and the health bills that have arisen since the problems began.

Here post another Hydro one hater. With this post though I have a question for everyone out there. On your bill, on the line that says “metered usage in kWh” – what is your meter reading multiplied by? It is supposed to be multiplied by the multiplier number on your meter I believe. Does anyone know if this is correct? Also wondering if everyone is reading the old meters or the new digital meters? We have had our meter changed to the new meter in the past year and our multiplier numbers don't match up. Having astronomical hydro bills every month and deposits. Can anyone help or verify this for me?

I work at hydro one and you guys can go screw yourselves.

Wow! A typical example of Hydro One's attitude toward their customers. Straight from the horse's mouth!

If you're one of the workers who keeps the service in tact and running, then great! I have the utmost respect for you!

However, if you're one of the Fat Cats who sits on his ass making policies that cripple people who are just trying to survive, then take a looker at some of the comments here. These are REAL people in REAL crisis!

We're not just a bunch of faceless whiners. We're the customers who are responsible for partially paying YOUR wages. I've paid almost $10,000 in 5 years just so you can take home a pay check!

Screw me? No! Screw you!!

I just started a facebook group called ” How much is left to pay on the Hydro One Debt Retirement Fund” I feel your pain totally and I am sick of paying for “What” I have no clue. I think they should issue us a financial statement telling us how much has been paid off and what's left owing! Please join and tell your friends…lets start the ball rolling!!

[...] before you start labelling me as a solitary whiner, you might want to have a read through This Post I found while searching for solutions. The post itself pretty much mirrors my situation right down [...]

add another HYDRO ONE HATER to the group , after struggling to keep my bill low at $58.00 usage , I learn today that I will always get #$%^& for $ 63.00 ( at least ) for DELIVERY charges —-plus `debt retirment etc etc ,,,whatever else they might come up with to $%^&*( their `customers` over with ,,,, and our government not only supports them but allows it ,,,,

I work at the hyro one dam power station and do regular maintenece on the turbines. My job is way harder than you could imagine…working in the water everyday all day long even in the winter. So thank you for your respect and i'm sorry that our personel has treated you wrongly.

Thanks for stopping back.

Sounds like a tough job. You sir, deserve every penny you take home! You're the reason our lights are still on.

However, my appreciation for Hydro One pretty much ends there. Sorry.

Thanks for the math. Figure, they pay .25% interest on the money they hold in Security deposits. Nobody knows how big this fund is, but on average it seems that each customer that they assess it to pays $850.00 or so. They of course invest this money somehow and I am sure it generates much more that .25% making it an excellent income source. If they want more income, collect more security deposits. How? Simply follow their policy and issue 2 disconnection notices. All they need is a late payment or two to “justify” this. Once done, you have no recourse to argue or have it reversed. They will get their money or you will be disconnected. Once your money is in thier investment fund, the profits roll in. Free money to invest. Perhaps the profits are paid out in executive bonuses. I think this completely unregulated, unsupervised program is simply a slush fund. From my experience and reading the threads above, something needs to be done, problem is that there is nobody to do it. I challenge a news source to investigate, collect the facts, interview a sample of the population, see if I (we) are all wrong or if something that borders on a crime is happening here. Wouldn’t be the first time people were scammed buy a trusted company.

This is exactly the same thing that happened to my Girlfriend at her previous residence. They had more on hand than the amount needed to clear the overdue amount on the disconnect notice, however wanted a payment up front to prevent disconnection. We paid the bill, and when we moved into our current home, received a cheque with the deposit amount. We are now again being asked for a security deposit, we have been late upon occasion due to their estimated bills not being accurate. Their policy states that they must issue 2 disconnection notices before doing this. I only received one. I just realized that if they had issued a 2nd one, I never paid it and never got disconnected, so how could it have been issued as they claim? Hmm, better review my records again.

TOU Time of use just gave me a great idea. It can also work against them. I only burn about 1 kw for 6 hours when I come home at nite. So I am just going to buy a small generator ($400=same as the delivery fees for only 7 months!!!! pays for itself in less than a year!!!) and use that instead. If it is less than half than what they are charging then I just out smarted all of these rocket scientists and their glorious 50 year legacy of idioacy and insane debt. Most business' could never do this, let alone do this to their customers, its only because electricity is essential and gov run have they been able to. All the politicos mess up and then finger point. They are all guilty collectively since this is their baby. 1/3 of the employees on the sunshine list?? Roflmao. There's 1.5 billion right there. First GST on the debt retirment charge now HST? You have got to be joking. There certainly isn't any other place like this.

Hydro One is a god dam joke, I spot their employee's taking 45 minute breaks at local Tim Hortons, 4 times a day and we PAY FOR THAT???? I am 24 years old I do not think its fair that I have to pay some debt retirement charge that I wasn't even around for. Now they have this time of day usage, how greedy can one company get. Here is what everyone should do chip a couple blocks away in our basement and wire your panel in before your meter so it bypasses it, and cancel your account. And put these Money hungry bastards out of business, There are alot of crooked Electritions out there that will do this, time to fight fire with fire.

Hydro or other big corporation doesnt really give a flying f%^ck about us…yes I do work for a very big corporation in Canada, they care about the buck coming in… ever saw the movie the grinch? the more is never enough they want more more and with that comes politics and power.

My friends this is a big game that us the “little people” will never understand. Screw the big corporation better yet screw the government with its sutpid HST tax coming soon…I tell ya we are all puppets…its sad.

Problem is that we have no leader for the little people, it would take only one day for us the workers!! that wpork hard for our money to simply not go to work for a week,,I mean everybody in Canada and then the government will realise that he his not the one leading this Country we are my friends!!

I got my windmill a couple of year ago, I barely pay Hydro 20$ a month…they can all suck on my hairless balls!!!!!

That would be a nice change from Hydro One screwing us!

I got a bill 2day they want $695.00 from me…WTF I have paid my bill for the last 6 yrs …I was only late with 2…WHICH as soon as I got a call I paid IN FULL with extra amounts…THEY are scammers.. & when the hell is this DEBT RETIREMENT GOING 2 BE PAID OFF!!!!

this is all a god damn scam to f**** over all the middle class people trying to survive.
Drive the prices out of this world so most people will lose everything.
First lets see (food) or Hydro bill. not eating will not impose you a late fee + you don’t have to pay down on any retirement charge for an empty stomach.
2:nd don’t pay and will disconnect you Oh well no money to pay the fu*** ridiculous bill anyway.
3 :stay in the dark this is what the piss ant government wants.
4: social assistance? why work no cost of living will ever adjust to this bull shi^&.
5:we cant continue to strain our poor electrical grid. Ya but continue to build mass
productions of new homes where the fu%% is there hydro appearing from the moon.
Hydro can bent over and thank the jack a## government for the push they get to
screw over the working class. Can’t wait till this shi! collapses the economy.
then we can all be in the dark except the rich ass Mother !!!!!!! who will be on an island we bought.I hat these people you suck

I AM A SENIOR LIVING IN A SENIOR COMPLEX,10 2 BEDRROM,10 1 BEDROOM
MY HYDRO BILL IS THE HIGHEST OUT OF ALL 20 APTS. NOW MY HYDRO BILLS ARE NOT LIKE THE ONE’S I’VE READ IN THIS BLOG BUT WHAT I’M QUESTIONING WITH HYDRO ONE IS WHEN I DON’T COOK,DON’T TURN MY LIGHTS ON DUE TO AN EYE CONDITION WHERE LIGHTS HURT MY EYES,MY APT IS VERY SMALL 1 BEDROOM EVERYTHING IS UNPLUGED BUT BARE NECESSITIES AND MY BILL IS 105.99,I’VE LIVED HERE A YEAR AND EVERY MONTH MY BILL HAS GONE UP AND I DO NOTHING DIFFERENT FROM MONTH TO MONTH ,EVERYONE ELSE IN HERE IS COOKING UP A STORM,LIGHTS ON AT NIGHT,I HAVE TO QUESTION THAT BUT HYDRO ONE TELLS ME THEY DON’T COMPARE OTHERS HYDRO USE,WELL DUH, I DO WHEN I’M NOT DOING WHAT OTHERS ARE DOING,I’M EXPECTING A HIGHER HYDRO BILL THIS MONTH,WHY? JUST A GUT FEELING THAT HYDRO ONE HAS ME TARGETED FOR THEIR CASH COW IN THIS COMPLEX,TOO BAD THEY HAVE NO COMPASSION FOR THEIR CUSTOMERS WHO ARE STRUGGLING TO PAY THEM,THEY ARE SHAMELESS EVEN TO THEIR EMPLOYEES,MY NAME FOR HYDRO ONE IS THE HYDRO PIG’S,I’D LIKE TO SEND THEM MY VISA BILL TO HELP PAY DOWN MY DEBT,AFTER ALL WASH MY BACK I’LL WASH YOURS.

LOL it’s a business ppl, they dont want deadbeat customers…

If Hydro One were private it would be even worse.

For once I can be glad to say that I’m plugged into Hydro Quebec

Poor people struggle to pay the Hydro bill including the debt that Hydro One accumulate over the years caused by the bad management.

Just remember that you are paying for ex Hydro One workers, these guys probably earn more than the half of customer who pays for the debt.

please remember it is privatised. Read your current bill that states that if you are late they can hit you with a deposit. More often in the hundreds of dollars. Remember too that if you use more than you should they can hit you with a deposit also. It is all about privitisation and squeezing you out of your homes. Understand the ones that are doing this are land barons. They want the land back and will stop at nothing to get it.

agenda 21…look it up

I was late on two payments while I was laid off. When I regained partial employment, I paid the H1 bill immediately. I have now been hit with a $605 security deposit on top of my $300 a month bill. Unfortunately if I have to pay this security deposit Iwill not be able to adequately feed, and clothe my 3 children or pay my mortgage. I may possibly lose my home… because of two late payments? Or may it have something to do with the very large ‘sunshine list’ (look it up) of employees making well over $100,000 a year … or maybe H1′s CEO Laura Formusa who’s before bonus salary is a measly $975,175. Hmmm, I wonder why there is a debt retirement charge.

We receive our service from Veridian. Money is all so somewhat tight for us because I have been on long term disability for 8 years. My husbands company froze all wages a couple of years ago because of the economy. Everything keeps going up but no more money coming in. The only break we got was our adult son getting a full time job and paying us room and board. That helps a bit. Veridian is almost ‘Mob” like in handling customers who pay late. Our payment, this past month, was about 2 weeks late, no more than that. A letter was stuck to our front door yesterday stating that our power will be cut of in 3 days if bill not paid. For our years with them this is the second time we received this type of notice. When I called them on it the last time they said they would not really turn it off that fast. How the heck is the customer supposed to know that. It is not like we have ever missed paying a bill. I could understand this heavy handedness if it was a chronic problem or that we had not made them aware of our circumstances . I asked them, in a email, when they were sending the guys around to break my kneecaps. That is what it feels like. Like every other site they have a monopoly on electricity supply. They should open the market up like they did with the phones so that competitors could offer the same service for a better price. I have to agree with you on their debt retirement. No body pays our debts for us so why should we have to pay theirs. I also asked them if perhaps they were facing financial ruin if our payment was late.
Brenda

I’m a hydro one worker and all is well in having a “Beef” with a company. But when you really sit back in your chair and look at the big picture, Hydro One is not the ones screwing you over on your bills. The OEB controls the set rate for all electricity distributed within Ontario. You may want to turn back and talk about the dreadful, debt retirement charge. Once again this charge on your bill is between not only us as the distributer, but also the generation facilities producing your power. Moreover you can sit back and rag on the Hydro Employees for taking extra long breaks, and you pay our wages… blah blah blah.. Think before you make a statement. Most Hydro One employees, are also Hydro One customers.. We pay these bills too folks, we pay our own wages to folks. All in all, stop complaining. Blame the technological revolution which has created such a demand for electricity in all the new toys we “MUST HAVE”, and hey in the end its called inflation people.. Shits always going to get more expensive.. If you don’t like Hydro One soooooo much tap into a private distributer, and or a local PUC. In the end you’ll see how no matter what company you choose there all the same in the end.

Peacee!

I’m a hydro one worker and all is well in having a “Beef” with a company. But when you really sit back in your chair and look at the big picture, Hydro One is not the ones screwing you over on your bills. The OEB controls the set rate for all electricity distributed within Ontario. You may want to turn back and talk about the dreadful, debt retirement charge. Once again this charge on your bill is between not only us as the distributer, but also the generation facilities producing your power. Moreover you can sit back and rag on the Hydro Employees for taking extra long breaks, and you pay our wages… blah blah blah.. Think before you make a statement. Most Hydro One employees, are also Hydro One customers.. We pay these bills too folks, we pay our own wages to folks. All in all, stop complaining. Blame the technological revolution which has created such a demand for electricity in all the new toys we “MUST HAVE”, and hey in the end its called inflation people.. Shits always going to get more expensive.. If you don’t like Hydro One soooooo much tap into a private distributer, and or a local PUC. In the end you’ll see how no matter what company you choose there all the same in the end.

Peacee

Ok get this one , over the past 2 years on a budget they have overcharged me 400 the first year and over 600 the next , now this past year i was unemployed for 5 months late on a couple of bills , but in the meantime they had the overcharges in there pockets and now want almost 560.00 in a security deposit.

Every other day I hear someone complaining about Hydro one, not even just the bills going up but stories of them not reading your meter for a year( too lazy and cheap to pay people to do this now I guess) I guess it’s my job to read my own meter, hmmm will I get a discount for doing their job????NO
Anyway as I was saying before I vented, I hear a story at least once a week of somone getting an astronomical hydro bill, me for instance a $ 2000 hydro bill because they didnt read the meter for one year. Then thereafter my bill for the next four months is 750, 750.00, 800.00 ( Im gonna snap soon.) my bill use to be 270.00 a month?????
Now today I get a letter in mail that there going to raise my security Deposit to 1625.00 because I don’t “maintain a good payment history.. HELLO how does somone keep a good payment history when they get a 1600.00 bill in one month, then 750., then 789, then 750…That 4100.00 BUCKS in 4 months( give your friggin head a shake ) And where is this so called government come in to ploay) ooh ya they agree to let them raise hydro even more.
They better start investigating Hydro soon or there will be some pretty angry protesting happening soon
YOu call and they send you a phampley on how to save energy

Even the mafia have more of a social conscience than Hydro 1. The millions of dollars
that is being paid to British Energy to NOT GENERATE POWER is absolutely untenable given the average incomes of Ontario homeowners. We have gone to Texas for the winter and we used a compressor to blow out the water lines in our house so we would not have to heat it during the cold months. We can live more cheaply in Texas where hydro is 5 cents a KHW which is reasonable. I shudder to think of poor families and retired seniors on fixed incomes who cannot afford the increase and will take desperate measures to survive and this will impact on our health care and municipal services. The ability for small business will be greatly diminished. I am not a socialist, but I cannot support untenable greed!

You know you are full of shit,
you are all over payed except the boys on the polls.
Hydro one once called Ontario hydro bankrupt it, and they want us to pay for there
F… ups its bull shit.
The HST, the delivery charge, the dept retirement, and the provincial benefit whats that a benefit for the comey cigar smoking thieves.
Its time for the people to put there foot down NOT lay down and take it up the hoop.
I have palls that are mill rights and at the nuke plants they pay them to site around for weeks that’s GOOD management for the tax payers, its time to clean house and get ride of the coffee drinkers and lazy lechers and take care of or Seniors and the people that are trying to survive,like The Blue collier workers.

Jed

http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/publications/salarydisclosure/2009/electric09.html

This will make your blood boil..

Hey, I was looking up ways to get out of our disconnection and I saw this on google. I completely agree!! I was under the impression that hydro one is supposed to send out a couple disconnection notice before the final one where it will be cut off. Well apparently they sent this ONE notice out on Dec.16th, saying we had the month until Jan.3rd (today btw) to pay everything off. The thing is we didn’t receive the notice until Dec.31st!! And we got home late so there was no time for me to call and find out whats going on. And there’s no one you can contact on the weekends (stupid for a hydro company they should be available like the firemen and policemen are). There is next to NO way we can come up with $900 in 2 days, not even a week! I doubt all resources out there such as social services and local churches well be able to help

As with anything else, if you can’t afford the service, don’t use it. You identified a solution of living with someone else as a shared accomodation but then said you wouldn’t do it…well since you feel so entitled to have your own place I’m sure you can bother to pay the bills that come with that luxury.

It’s funny that everyone thinks that a business that also has bills to pay should show compassion and cut them some slack. I don’t know of any business that does this.

Time of day was implemented to curb the peak demand on the grid. This is necessary for two reasons.
1. If the trend were to continue new infrastructure would be required.
2. Electricity generated to fill in peaks requires generators that can be brought online quickly as required but otherwise sit iddle. The generation companies need to build these generators and are only receiving revenue for small portions of the day when they are running so they need to charge more for the electricity produced by these generators. Simple really.

Sure go ahead make a hole in your wall and then cancel your account, the utility will disconnect you at the pole/transformer.

Just for the record
I have been a hydro one customer for at least 17 years. I own two houses.
The the first house was disconnected maybe 12 years ago. I was willing two pay all debt in one payment, but an inspection was required by the time I had earned the money. It cost less to buy a home here at that time than to pay the inspection and electrical costs. WOW! The electrical and heating was all new a year before I bought it. Not good enough for Hydro rules! The properties are on a mining claim and I rent the land and as such the financial institutions will not provide any remedies because the property cannot be held as collateral. No I don’t believe in or use credit cards. This situation affects the risk of sale of the property and severely limits my options to finance debt that does and will occur throughout ones life. Hydro One has debt…No…?
So it came down to this. The home was disconnected and I simply moved out and demolished part of it to have it rezoned as a shed. We are talking about a well built home that a family of five could have lived in with enough land to grow a garden. I had built a 12 by 12 green house as well. All destroyed.
Last April I was in a motor vehicle accident. I broke my back and suffered head injuries. I am in therapy and cannot work. I have since been living on my savings and no I’m not receiving, nor intend to ask for wellfare or disability. I cannot pay the debts until I receive some of the insurance money due to me. My lawyers tell me the insurance companies have thirty days to respond, but may dispute my claim to fire wood and house keeping expenses. These amounts that I will use to pay what I owe and late penalties etc. Very high interest I might add. It will NOT be enough to handle the deposit or reconnection charges further imposed. I cannot give a time frame as to when I can afford the reconnection and deposit. I must heal up and go back to work first. Insurance provides little security as I am discovering the hard way, civil suits conclude measured in years. Current average is three years! Doctor and therapy appointments are measured and booked, here in northern Ontario, in months or years. Folks who can afford it simply get the medical help in the U.S. Yet payments, interest, penalties to banks, insurance and hydro are measured in days and hours.
I bought and have been living in the second home and payed hydro the past ten years. It is also on rented land. The home other wise holds, easily, a 120,000 dollar value. But I’m stuck in this situation, once again, where I’m forced out and possibly bulldozing yet another perfectly sound and attractive home to meet Hydro’s demands. It seems, because the insurance rules and banking rules and Hydro’s rules harmonize to no other tune other than absolute madness, this may indeed result in me being homeless.
All together now can we spell crucifixion? Yes. Very good girls and boys. Tomorrow we learn to finger paint. Maybe if my luck holds out I can join the doves of mentally ill being housed in our Canadian jails. I here it’s mush more reliable and dignified than utilizing our so called social safety net. Any thoughts?
Hydro One please be advised that you have more than a public relations problem. It’s common knowledge that you are steal the food right off the tables of our senior citizens. If I were a Hydro One CEO I would be ashamed. Further I don’t intend to be quiet while being thrown out on the street. I am making plans.

Wow! There are now new rules for Hydro and gas companies. Know your rights. Check out the Ontario Energy Board web sites for more details how it now works. Low income customers have rights.

These people make a lot of money and bonuses too.

That is so true. They go golfing to fancy places and who pays for that?

I hear you. They ESTIMATE for 4-5 mths. The bills range from 380 one as high as 498! ONE MONTH. Then they read it, 89$. WTF? Ad, when we call to complain why do we not see a refund? NO ANSWER> My delivery charges on a cheap bill, are 89.71, the hst 25.85. we were late last month, now we owe 1,333.31! From the estimates, and their security deposit, which by the way, is based on their ESTIMATED BILLS! What a racket, I too lost my job 9 mths ago. We are struggling, to pay our hydro!!!!! We make over 75,00 with his income, and are sick to open the hydro bills! FYI….when his income goes up, I hate to say it, but so does our hydro. In the last 2 yr, we have replaced windows, bought brand new fridge freeze washer/dryer, downgraded our hot water tank, Unplugged the hot tub, (we cant afford to run it) we stumble around in darkness….guess what? Our HYDRO GOES UP…….498? for one month? REALLY OUR HYDRO IS 2 AS HIGH AS 2 YRS AGO……………….neverending

why don’t you give your head a friggen shake!!! the people that employ you have been sitting on a monopoly for ever… they sit on the OEB and make the friggen rules as they like and line their pockets… why don’t you ask your employer to cut back your wages by 20% to help with their retirement debt!! since you created it.

I agree they are DIRTY ROTTEN BLOOD SUCKERS!!

Every time I call Hydro one when the bill comes in because it is now averaging $1100 per month…. yes that is right $1100 PER MONTH… it went form $550 per month average this past summer and coincedentally after changing the meter my costs have almost doubled… so when you call those friggen ignorant morons that sit there in Hydo Ones office and read a response to you that you should turn off your lights and buy energy saving bulbs.. IT JUST MAKES YOU SICK… MAKES YOUR BLOOD BOIL because they assume that you are as dumb ad they are and that you are eventually just going to sit there and take it!!

Well you know what? if everyone stopped paying their hydro bill what would you do? go and cut everyone off? I don’t think so… maybe this is something that we should all do..maybe we should start to organise and start on a rotating basis of areas to stop paying our bills.what do you think Brandon_102? would you go out and cut off the electrical power to a customer when you are not being paid?. Maybe we should let Ottawa know that we won’t stand for this blood sucking bullshit they are trying to feed us. There is an election coming up in May…. these politicians want to get elected? then they should clean up house and get rid of those BLODD SUCKING BASTARDS that sit on the OEB! and put a program in that is for the people that utilise the service.

Ontario Energy Board

My husband and I, along with the majority of Hydro One users, I’m sure, are extremely frustrated with the outrageous increases in our hydro bills, with no end in sight. This prompted us to contact our M.P.P.s office. This letter is in response to their written reply to our concerns, and is addressed to the Ontario Energy Board per their
suggestion. I thought to myself, as we all have, “What’s the point, there’s nothing we can do about it.” They must already know that everybody is unhappy with the cost of keeping our electricity flowing. And I almost allowed this to let my comments remain unheard. But maybe, just maybe, if each and every one of us who struggle to pay these incredibly unreasonable charges each month make sure that those in control actually hear us, something may finally be done after all. So, for what it’s worth, here are my thoughts.
I have heard and implemented your suggestions to reduce our power consumption. Our electronics are on power bars in order to eliminate phantom power when these items are turned off, we prepare meals for the week in advance on the weekends to take advantage of the lower rates, we hang our clothes up to dry, summer and winter. We’ve even switched from an electric stove to propane. Even using all of these cost saving measures, my bills are still increasing. I get up extra early in the morning to have my shower and do a load of laundry before the on-peak hours begin. What you don’t mention is now the water heater is working its hardest at a much higher rate as it begins it’s work after the shower and laundry is complete. In order to run our households economically, it sounds as if we should all be up in the middle of the night and falling asleep at our jobs during the day. The very jobs we so desperately need now in order to keep our lights on. Yes, the same lights that we are all afraid to use now without carefully doing the math first. And how convenient that the on-peak hours begin again just when we are returning from our jobs to prepare supper for our families. Perhaps before too long though, that may not be a concern at all as we will either be able to afford the groceries needed for our meals or the hydro needed to cook the meals. Some may not be able to afford both.
In the letter I received from the office of Rick Johnson they have said that these price increases are expected to moderate in five years. How many times last year did Hydro rates increase? How many increases are we expected to get this year? Whether a result of an increase to the delivery charge, a kilowatt per hour charge or the addition of the HST, the bottom line is, how may of these absurd increases can we be expected to endure? In reality, who do you see being able to afford to pay these prices for the next five years, or for that matter, this year or the next? And this is only addressing the increase in Hydro rates alone. What about every other increase we face in our everyday lives as a result of soaring electricity costs? Every business experiencing increased costs has to pass that on to their consumers. And while we’re on the subject of passing on costs – let me talk about the debt retirement charge, obviously another major bone of contention with users. If I were to buy a business that was in debt and blatantly passed that debt onto my customers as a charge over and above the legitimate purchase price of the item they were buying from me, how long do you suppose I would be in business? Why is your business not being governed by the same rules of ethics and fairness that I would be expected to run mine by?
Finally, the government says that energy rates are rising to “ensure that there is enough power to keep the lights on while replacing dirty, smog-producing coal with clean, renewable energy.” I completely appreciate this noble and worthwhile effort and recognize that it will not come cheaply, but I urge you to find ways of cutting back on expenses and doing without “luxuries” as we all have had to do . How much in inflated salaries is spent around the boardroom table or at expensive lunches thinking up new ways of passing on ridiculous increases to the users of your service?
It is time you hear us. We are discouraged, we are frustrated, yet we are working with you the best we can, please find a way to work with us.

see our on-line petition at: stophydroone at ipetitions.com
Valerie & Dave Roylance

Minden, ON

cc: Dalton McGuinty, Rick Johnson, Tim Hudak,
Hydro One
Ottawa Citizen, Toronto Star, The County Voice, The Minden Times, The Haliburton Echo

absolutely      fuckin eh!
as another canadian trying to survive….why is it that with over 7 million
victims or customers we are called… have been paying an average of $20 dollars
on every bill for this debt recovery…lets ponder that….7 million x $20 = $140 million per month … for what ??? at least 10 yrs ?   thats $16,800,000,000.00   WTF   isn’t it paid yet? how much did they frickin steal the first time ?
sumthing need to be done.
us cannuks are getting a severe screwing here.
and this is only 1 of many major issues that are running this great nation into the ground.

don’t forget delivery fee’s  ? i didnt see any delivery truck? isnt that what the line maintenance  charges are for? storage fee’s for extra electricity that you didnt use ?  duh ! doesnt it run thru the wires as i consume it ? how did anyone send to much if i didnt ask for it ( and its so costly as it is )   then you’re still VERY BAD at managing our hydro by just sending too much,to poor people that sumtimes cant pay !  ( i figure probably 80% of canadians )

SHAME SHAME SHAME !  “hydro 1 / ontario hydro”  I love alberta.

I worked for the theives – before you hear what I have to say, don’t send out a hit squad. If it was in my power to give the Hydro clowns VERY long prison terms, that, believe me, is what they would get.

I am older than Santa’s granddaddy. Time flies when you are having fun – it even flies when you are not having fun.

I started with Hydro construction in 1967 – and I got the first taste of their respect for the law -’wadda’ joke!! I was laid off out of sequence that year. I still have the union letter listing all the characters hired after me. Nepotism and chronyism: I didn’t know that these clowns had so many relatives who needed my job, and then the late night hiring of the village, dim-witted, falling-down drunks. Amazing! Beyond belief! In these 44 years I worked about 20.Desperate for income, I sprayed Garlon for them. I ended up with many health issues. They put me on light duty —– then they laid me off, of course. Law? What law? Unions? What unions?

For the people paying these monsterous bills, lets get down to that. Some of the following can be found on Wikipedia
-Hydro Quebec is about the same size as the cabal of theives that produce electricity in Ontario. Hydro Quebec pays the province of Quebec a dividend; the ‘suckers’ (I being one of them) in Ontario will be paying stranded debt forever. Theiry Vandal was running ALL of Hydro Quebec for approximatelly 1/7 of the cost of the criminal ellement in Ontario. There is MUCH more to be said about this comparison. One: Mr. ‘FIGJAM’ (fuck I’m great; just ask me), Tom Parkinson, CEO of HALF an electric system, Hydro One, was fired for fraud - then was paid $3 million for severence pay – after (get this) four years of fun and games. $3 million after four years!!!!!
-What other province has a ‘Power Athority’? From what I can see, their purpose is to be bureaucratically bureaucratic – to just LOAD humungus expences on those that can least afford it.
-Work ethic!!! Now that is a real side-splitter!! Yes, some actually tried to do some work during the day – then there is the rest! This is only one example of the hundreds I’ve seen. This year, I saw them, three, daily, going into the pub for their half-hour lunch at 11:45 and coming out at 1:15. Now it is quite obvious that eight hours work can’t be done in six hours so there would have to be two hours added — at double time.

I want to talk and I want my name out there.

Keith Rankin

ttkrankin@hotmail.com

Being the geek I am that is $1.24 Billion

Enbridge gas is a company that sucks the blood out of you as well.  Won’t reconnect and when they do they charge you as well as they want a security deposit…What a scam nothing but a blood sucking company.  If I could I would immediately go to another gas company….but they have something to say about billing so why bother…should just go with heating…and forget about gas.  I am one unhappy customer with enbridge gas…they can go to hell

I have gone on line looking for help. The cost of my hydro has gotten so high that I am now in a situation where I must decide to either give up my home or give up my hydro. I can heat my home and cook with my wood stove but I require hydro to run my water pump…I would have no water. I live alone. My hydro bill was over $600.00. I turn my water heater and water pump off whenever I am away from home. I have replaced all light bulbs with the more expensive bulbs that use less power. I wash my laundry in cold water and hang it outdoors to dry. I use my stove as little as possible. I try not to use any hydro until late in the evening when the cost of hydro is lower?? After being very careful and using as little hydro as possible, I was shocked to receive my hydro bill today. It is well over $700.00 for one month. How is that even possible when I know I have used less hydro?

i’m in same boat as all of u. want out. my sister has a house with out hydro. i love her place. tried to swap with her would not do it. do,nt blame her. now i,m looking 4 house like my sis. hard to find. any one out there would like to swap houses talk to me.no hydro please.

hydro isa drug it addict us were u think u need it. we don.t our grand parent did not have. we can go with out.  turn it all off.

I have a feeling that there are serious malfunction issues with the smart meters and that many of us are being charged higher rates based on assumptions on when we are consuming Hydro.  I have just recently gone through an ordeal with Hydro One for my seasonal cottage as a result of receiving a bill for over $4000 were historically they were in the range of $150.  Hydro has admitted that something is not right after I spent hours pulling all my bills6 years back and mapping on a spreadsheet to provide them with the proof that something was seriously wrong.  As a result of this exercise I had educated myself on the billing process and also became aware that they are making assumptions on when we are consuming hydro and the peak hour charges are definitely not based on our actual consumption.  This is completely unacceptable – if they can’t determine when we are consuming they shouldn’t be making assumptions and charging at higher rates.

Up north they have apparently switched the smart meters after the initial installation – if there aren’t problems why are they switching these smart meters?  I had asked why would the meters be switched if I did not raise a concern and the response was that thousands of smart meters have been switched and I asked why and did not get a response.  I also asked shouldn’t I be notified if a change was happening similiar to the initial notification when the smart meter was installed?  Again no response. 

We all need to voice our concerns and start sending letters to McGuinty, Brad Duguid (Ministry of Energy) and the Ontario Ombudsman, Andre Marin – apparently his office is monitoring the smart meter issues.  If you have your old bills – place the facts on a spreadsheet so that the issues is very apparent and send copies of all your bills.

they want an 800.00 deposit from us

its would be easy for us to pay our hydro bill if my husband was not on cpp and they are going to cut us off on oct 20 2011 for a deposit we can not afford

Hi Dave:

I did not realize that there was so much discontent with Hydro One. I myself just recieved a bill with an additional $475.00 security deposit. I have sent the the hydro bill befoe due date in full less the deposit and sent them an email. I am trying to investigate the legal issures. I don’t know if they can cut us off or charge interest on unpaid security deposits since it i not services or products rendered. I am going o pursue this as far as I can possibly go. Have you had any luck? Should we join forces? How about a facebook campaign? Lets fight this bs.

You have some very valid points, but, the issue becomes productivity versus wages. You are right about the hydro workers being customers also but you guys make so much more money than the average Ontario Employee. It use to be the PUC guys that got all the ribbing. You know 1 guy with a shovel and 9 guys standing around watching. Now you guys do not seem to be any better. They are workin on our road and there was one guy on a chainsaw, 4 trucks and nobody else doing anything. Last week a guy was at the end of our driveway for almost an hour, sitting in his truck and idling all the time. Who cares, it not his gas bill. This type of disregard and lack of productivity adds to the overwhelming burden of high energy costs. Look at the link in Cant tell message. I did!! Out of the hundreds of employees on salary not 1, NO NOT ONE!! makes less than $100,000.00. I found one guy a 4 year APPRENTICE and he makes $100,169.15.

I think that major reform is due!!

well gee whiz hydro man i’ll stop complaining when ontario dissabiliy support program pay’s me the $25+/hr you make to sit at tim horton’s!!!!!

Hey 
Hydro One – Dirty Rotten Blood Suckers! I read you post and have some advice. I think you should commit suicide. You sound like you will eventually become a burden to society and we should not have to sponsor you failed life.

If every Hydro customer demanded a vote that provincial leaders must obey,
like in the USA, voters can vote on bills rather than allow government to decide.
If we voted on Bill to reduce hydro rates I’ll bet you see panic in Hydro One management – maybe the $3.5 million salary, plus bonus of the CEO might need review. 

I had the same thing happen to me, Hydro demanded a $500 “security deposit” I refused to pay it and they threatened to cut me off. I contacted the ombudsman, needless to say after the ombudsman approached hydro with the issue the quickly changes their tone with me and I did not pay the security deposit nor will I ever!!! 

Re. Richman’s response:

Easily the dumbest thing I have ever read. Won’t be long till they collapse eh? Oh and btw solar power is cheaper than utility derived power now. Free energy from the sun for eternity. No taxes. No middleman. No Richman.

Boycott them with solar power. Queens university did a study recently and revealed solar is now at par with utility derived power. I did a study and discovered solar is half price compared to utility derived power if you can DIY the installation.

Get started on a backyard solar project now. Build a small system using free information off the Internet. Develop proficiency and knowledge. Build a small system and use it to power your home office. Solar power is free energy forever. No stupid price increases. No billion dollar down the toilet stupid meters. No multi tax upon tax upon tax. No middlemen. No bureaucrats. No CEOs. No stupid delivery fee. No fraudulent business/accounting practices. Just free energy forever. FREE!

My “smart” meter appears to be overcharging me 30-40% on every bill. Pretty smart of them to flush a billion down the toilet on this garbage in the middle of a world wide recession whilst running a $16 billion dollar deficit. Solar power is at par or better now and since I only use 3 kwh per day I only need a 1 kw array to go completely off grid. 1000 watts worth of panels @ $1.50 a watt is only $1500 plus tax and then I never pay a stupid rip off hydro bill again. How does that factor into the luxurious retirement plan for the 11,000 odd hydro workers on the sunshine list? I’m opting out of financing it for you. Keep sending me brochures on how to save energy idiots and I’ll keep blogging free advice for you on here. I really enjoyed the one we got last year that said my bill was higher because it was a particularly hot and humid summer. Complete bullshit. We had less than 2 weeks of hot weather. Based on what i have seen I am recommending immediate mandatory drug testing for all hydro executives. Nice top heavy organizational structure btw – too bad it’s not economically feasible.

Have a great day!

 I AGRREE TOTALLY …….
 you might offer them a payment plan… but dont be suprised if they demand “in full”   they dont seem to have any money to get by or somthing and they dont want interest… they just want there money NOW!….

#$%#%$#%$# them

 you would not believe this but it is true they are estimating your bill and not actually reading your meter, also look on your hydro one bill they do not show the actual reading on your meter, get this my cottage breaker was off and the cottage shut up at the end of the season the meter was not reading and i got a bill for November for $85, and in December for $109, i also went on line and read my meter and it showed a reading higher than the last bill even though the meter was not reading, when i showed hydro one the facts they apologized and told me that they had estimated the readings for that period of time,so you folks who read your hydro use on line and think that they are actual readings they are not you are being misled by hydro one about that, start reading your meter yourself or continue to get screwed by hydro one.

really? u must work for them. u have the sympathy/empathy of a snake.

amen

I just called hydro one, to close my account with them, and I know I had an outstanding bill with them, I had just paid them 250 for this payment arrangement I made with them to pay off the old bill I had, this was back in dec of 2011, and the rest of the bill was over 300 but with the january bill it probably would have come up too 500, I’m assuming BUT now they tell me I have an outstanding bill with them of over 1500.00, which totally stumped me and my jaw just dropped to the floor, I asked why it was so much, He said that i was on a payment plan with them and it was 190 a month BUT I used more energy more than that 190 and it sounded like they are charging me and my family more of the energy than the 190.00.  It was confusing to me what he was trying to explain, I need help with this as my family and I are on OW, I can’t afford anything and I certainly cannot afford a 1500 hydro bill for moving out and discontinuing their services.

Hydro One SUCKS BIG TIME !!!!! THEY ARE BLOOD SUCKERS !!!!!! my story if the same as the above …. I can’t keep up to them damm it !!!!

Hydro Quebec is totally out of control in this province, stealing from customers left right and center, padding bills, asking for NON-REFUNDABLE security deposits, rewarding their lackeys extra ( public ) money for each additional customer disconnected. It goes on and on.

All this tyranny just to satisfy the extravagant and decadant lifestyles of their  effete senior executives.

People staged a public protest against this scum to show disapproval over the ( rigged ? ) new proposed meters…the same has to be done to counter this totally unchecked profit-mongering.

You have to play the same game as they do to overcome this sort of corruption.

Just remember : THEY ARE SCARED OF THEIR CUSTOMERS !

Hi. I would just like to comment on these security deposits that Hydro One is requesting(mine is for over 3,000.00 yes $3,000.00) due to me having to make two payments each month because my bills have been ranging from 1,000.00 to 1,900.00 each month. All of them have been paid in full by the end of the month but unfortunately not in one payment.  therefore they feel free to tac on a security deposit.  Now here is where it get interesting, I already paid late feels so was therefore already penalized for late payments, so how can they penalize me once again with a security deposit, just incase I have another late payment. I wonder how that would work in the courts if someone committed a crime and the judge gave them 5 years and then told them once they get out after serving their time that they would have to do an extra 15 years just incase they do the crime again. Now isn’t that called double jeopardy, and don’t I have to do the crime before I am punished.  Well now I’m off to my MPP and the Ombudsman.
Thanks for listening.

I’m with you, Hydro is a corupt oganization and needs to be put in it’s place, GD Americans at work!!!!!! Believe it our not your Hydro Bill goes diretly into the recovery of the almighty USA , frikin pathetic our goverment bends over takes it again

All in All it boils down to the  Canadian government fucking us people, any one making $50,000 and under, and number  one our seniors needs some kind of a mother fucken break tax and utilities.
turn on the news if they talk about the employment rate or any thing the government is doing right its all bullshit and censured

                                            THANKS    

I don’t believe that the USA has any thing to do with the Canadian government fuck ups 

The pepole in Canada have got to say we cant take NO MORE 

start in june, stop paying you bill until they come out with descent charges. The delivery charge, the debt retirement charges, must not be billed. The only charge we should pay is the reading of the meter and that’s  it, and at a descent rate, not the other B.S. charge that we see. Don’t complain to the government, they are in the same bag because they received TAX from it. Our money is our money!!!
 Hydro employees are getting very high pension.  aren’t you fed up of paying for what you don’t have, well, stop paying. Start talking to your neighbours, email. Let’s do something, and don’t do it alone.

Hydro one is the scum of the earth. We had our power turn of because of late payment on 385.00. We lost all of our food in our fridge, we have a six year old daughter that had no heat in the house and had no food to eat. Hydro one treated us like garbage and we have own this house for eleven years. Times are hard and I lost my job went back to college and was living on one income. These big company can cut you off for 400.00 dollars but owe a deficit of billions. We are lucky for having each other my wife and me and this will not break us but does teach us the country we in does not care for the people.

Considering that that company is probably getting millions of dollars in public money or committing  tax evasion scams, maybe it would not hurt to put the fear of the lord in them by threatening to hold a sign outside their offices and bringing your child along for emphasis. those bastards don’t like any negative publicity like this and it since they are cowards anyway you might be surprised at how newly willing they are to re-connect or re-evaluate a high bill…its working for me so far…these bullies are actually afraid of their customers as a group and are wary of public interest stories that piss people off

I agree been there myself and has a matter of fact am there again,

Diana my husband is also recieving cpp he is full of cancer & tomorrow Hydro one is cutting us off, due to a bill that I cant pay until the end of the month, because we had to wait 120 days for disability to come in. We livein the country so allof our basic necessities rely on hydro. Water for one. Im stressed out & I have tried everything, my meter is reading to them 400 a mth which there is no way in hell that is correct, but I am forced as many of you are to pay. Im guess that we will be sitting in the dark tomorrow as I have no means to pay this off & I just pray that my house doesnt flood due to my sump pump not working.  Thanks Hydro one you greedy bastards!

Fed up with the Capitalists!! 
This may help??
 Paying by InstallmentsResidential customers may pay a security deposit in equal installments over a six-month period. Non-residential customers may pay a security deposit in equal installments over a four-month period. If you would like to pay by installment please contact us.
Acceptable Forms of SecurityYou may provide the security deposit by:Electronic banking or cheque; orDeposit alternatives such as an automatically renewing irrevocable letter of credit from a bank as defined in The Bank Act.Exceptions/Special Circumstances 

Effective October 1, 2011, Hydro One will waive the requirement to provide a security deposit for Eligible Low-Income Customer provided the Customer contacts Hydro One to request such a waiver and their low-income eligibility is confirmed.  Furthermore, where a social service agency or a government agency advises Hydro One that it is assessing a Customer for eligibility as an Eligible Low-Income Customer, the due date for payment of the security deposit shall be extended for 21 days pending the eligibility decision.  Additionally, an Eligible Low-Income Customer may, after October 1, 2011, request a refund of any security deposit previously paid to Hydro One, after application of the security deposit to any outstanding arrears on said customer’s account. 

Hopefully all low income “CUSTOMERS” (tongue in cheek) will request a refund.

On a side note Unions across the country are in a continuous battle with capitalists just like Hydro One. And Bell and Air Canada and Canada Post.etc etc
I feel the only way to fight such large Companies are to join together the working folks . All the working class people. Write letters, Support unions by sending them letters of support join in on walks..let workers on strike or lock out know you are with them! They are fighting this exact battle for everyone.
sorry had to throw in my 2 cents worth.

ha i have been trying to pay off my absolutely insane hydro bill of 3500 from th winter months and i’ve gotten it down to 2800 and that is with paying the reg monthly bills too and now i have one week to come up with 2800 or they are cutting me off. i asked for an extention and they won’tt help me at all. they don’t care about having kids or being able t o keep our fridge and stove going so we can eat. its pathetic. i hope not paying does something for some of you but those of us who are trying are getting screwed completely over. i don’t know what to do

Right, pal ……. I imagine I could pay my hydro bill too if I was making $36.50/hr. ….. give me a break! ….. OEB, ya right. They should lay you off, and half of your relatives too.

We should all launch a class action suit against these scumbags, every since the installed there so called Smart Meter, My Hydro bill has doubled. When I phoned them they just said Pay up, like they were the Gestapo. I ain’t paying then to give those CEOs bloodsucking bonuses. Screw them, lets sue them ripoff sons of bitches.

For the last 3 months I have been charged an extra $30 dollars a month in late fees, (my bill is only $100, they dont screw around anymore when then want thier money). I can not pay the bill till the begining of the month so Im late and they put a warning that they will cut off my service in my mailbox….that letter is what costs the $30.   Ive called them to ask if they can give me a little wiggle room here to i dont get the 30 dollar fee EVERY MONTH!!  but no dice!   You going thier office with the bullet proof glass and the security doors so you cant get at them.  All the security, whats up with that…. somethings wrong with your system when u need all that.  These late fees are a hidden POOR TAX!!!  because people with money are not paying them…. only the poor. I

We may have so-called free healthcare but even if you are lucky enough of the chosen few to receive a raise at your job, inflation eats it up. Its not only Hydro One, its rent, housing prices, food costs, cell phone, internet, and cable who all rip us off. Currently I reside in the Philippines and although I no longer have free health care here; Cell phone, internet, food, medications for Diabetes, taxi or bus fare, rent or buying a house or condo is approximately 70% cheaper. you realize when you move to another country just how much the system is Canada is ripping off the consumer starting with the government who takes 35% in tax from the working man and woman.

Hydro One are definitely crooks !!!  When I look at Hydro One electricity invoices for year 2012 to present,  I notice that delivery charges are double and sometimes triple the amount of electricity I actually use????? 

I also own a house in the City and have to deal with Hydro rather than Hydro One and although I use more electricity at this house my delivery charges with Hydro are half the amount of what Hydro One charges.  It just doesn’t make sense.  My electricity charges for a large 3 bedroom house with a rented apartment in the basement in the City where I stay five days a week…. is half of what I pay for the 1 bedroom bungalow where I stay only on weekends????

Seriously does it make sense?

Totally frustrated !!

You are so very true…I almost frigen fainted when I received my first hydro bill!!! The delivery charge is more than our bill sometimes…On top of the ridiculous  delivery charges they are soaking us for their dept…and Regulary charges…like with is that? Funny…that they charge us delivery…who the hell delivers it?  The hydro man on his shoulders? How are they getting away with this? 

Hydro one are the lowest scum of the earth. I’m a single mom on a fixed income and despite giving those blood sucking leaches 500.00 in the last month they shut my electricity off. Didn’t matter I had a baby in the house, didn’t matter I gave them
Every last fucking cent I had..those sons of whores still shut me down. Then comes the fun part–the degrading act of begging so called charitable organizations for money. Next time you donate make sure it’s to a decent place. These people who collect money to help poor people are keeping it for themselves I’m sure . Maybe not all but the ones I’ve dealt with cannot or will not help.

Now I’ve gotten desperate and had a lad turn my hero on illegally. I tried doing it the right way. I tried reasoning with these selfish bastards to no avail. So until I can raise the funds I’m sitting here jumping every time the door bell rings. What a bunch of bastards they are!!

Thinking the campaign might be the way to go

i had my gas cut off and have to go through the winter with no hot water..

time of use billing feels like price discrimination against the poor. the reasoning is so that everyone isn’t using hydro at the same time, but it feels like I am being forced to wait until the rich have eaten. the reasoning is to legislate environmental consciousness, but how many wealthy people are sitting in a room with one lamp on waiting until seven p.m. until they can afford to cook? I would feel better if it wasn’t discriminatory… e.g. odd numbered houses can have supper between 5:00-7:00 and even numbered houses between 7:00 and 9:00 for the same rate unless they don’t adhere then the price differential. my house number doesn’t feel nearly as discriminatory as my income.

I feel for you I have had a Bills of $500 to $700 and delivery charges have been half of the bill or more because I live out in the country what are we to do they asked or $1200 deposit we need to go to government and start a campaign .
Thank care Brenda

i got hurt at work and have not been able to pay my hydro now as of yesterday its 400.00 and they want to get me to pay a deposit they seem to have foegotten they got one a year ago for 1000.00

Has anyone ever had a load limiter installed by hydro one and if so what can it run how does it work

That list only shows government employees who earn over $100,000 annually before taxes.

Hydro one ———A legalized Racket —With all these bogus charges why do I have to pay the HST on them ? My adjusted usage charge is 15% of the electricity I used ; why? your answer was that it was lost , going through the lines coming to my home ;15%!!! WHAAAAT. Your re-ajustment of the smart meter increase because you miscalculated the charges—-( a childs answer ) WOW!!! Shame on you and this government that supports this scam—-

Ron Contardo Tecumseh Ont

Hello again to “Hydroone” the Ontario FRUDULENTLY NAMED GOVENRMENT SUCK HOLE. ASUMING FOR THE MOMENT THEY HAVE 1 MILLION CUSTOMERS THEY JUST STOLE 30 THOUSAND DOLLARS FROM US. YES YOU HAVE TO CALCULATE THE DELIVERY CHARGES. BECAUSE THEY HIDE THESE- REFUSE TO SHOW THEM ! EXAMPLE MY BILL IS FOR 33 DAYS; 27 IN DECEMBER AND 6 IN JANUARY WHEN THE DELIVERY RATES WENT UP. THEY BILL ME 59.94;  WHEREAS DOING THE CALCULATION IT SHOULD BE 59.91. THAT IS JUST 3 CENTS UNTIL YOU MULTIPLY BY 1 MILLION. NOW IT WOULD BE SIMPLE TO SHOW THE 6 RATES SEPARATELY ON THE BILL SO WHY DO THEY NOT ? WELL THEN THEY COULD NOT STEAL FROM YOU/US !. HERE ARE THE CALCULATIONS – YOU OF COURSE HAVE TO GO ON THE WEB TO GET FIGURES FOR YOUR METER WHICH IS A HASSEL AND THAT IS WHAT THEY COUNT ON -YOU WONT BOTHER :- 

05-Dec-12 TO 

01-Jan-13 –

31.11000 X 27/33 = 25.45364 (ADD)

494.08425 X O.O36 = 17.79  (ADD)
AND,

539.54000 X 0.0014 = 5.470 (ADD)

ALSO 

01-Jan-13 TO 

07-Jan-13

32.40000 X  6/33 = 5.89091 (ADD)

105.54029 X 

0.03756 = 

3.960

 AND 

115.25000 X 

0.01170 = 1.350 (ADD)THAT IS EXACTLY 59.91 (IT IS  THE SAME IF YOU ROUND EACH FIGURE TO 2 DIDGETS.) ALL FIGURES FROM MY COMPUTER !SO HOW DOES THOSE ASS HOLES GET 59.94 OTHER THAN INTENTIONALSTEALING FROM EVERY ONE OF THERE CUSTOMERS. AND THEY HAVE BEEN DOING THIS EVER SINCE. SIMPLY BY HIDING THE DELIVERY CHARGES – NOT SHOWING THE CALCULATION ON THEIR BILLS.AND TO CONCLUDE WHY WHEN OVER 50% OF ALL ELECTRICITY IS GENERATED BY NULEAR PLANTS. 30% OR MORE BY COAL, AND ONLY LESS THAT 20% BY WATER, ARE THEY CALLING IT HYDRO. ITS A TOTALY LIE, NOTHING LESS, THANKS TO THE STUPID POLITICIANS.- GOOD RIDDANCES TO ASS HOLE McGuinty

“delivery charge” on the hydro bill is almost double the amount of the actual electricity I use. this is PURE THEFT. this should be illegal. how did the ontario energy board pass this and who allowed a “delivery ” charge. it has racked up my bill to be almost 3 times as much wiht the same electricity usage. PEOPLE WE NEED TO STAND UP TO THIS. I AM WRITING TO MY MPP AND THE NEWS AND ANYONE ELSE I CAN THINK OF. THEY NEED TO ELIMINATE THE “delivery charge”. This all started after the “amalgamation” after which there was suppose to be competition, but I don[t see any reputable competition for electricity for people in rental apartments. this is PURE THEFT this so called “delivery charge” which is always almost twice as much as the electricity we use.  please everyone write to your MPP and complain and have this INVESTIGATED.

i HATE HYDRO ONE AND ONTARIO ENERGY BOARD ARE THE WORST MAFIA ONTARIO HAS SEEN. I’VE written to politicians , to the press, to hydro one…all they do is send me links to explain my bill. I understand my bill all to well, unfortunately. I WANT ANSWERS WHY WAS THIS ‘DELIVERY CHARGE’ALLOWED TO BE 3 TIMES THE AMOUNT OF OUR ACTUAL ELECTRICITY USAGE. let’s all strike in front  of hydro one or whatever they’re called these days. i think they’ve added another acronym at the end. how many times will they change their name? legal gamesthey play and ontarians are being ROBBED. shame on you Wynn Government for not even answering my emails about this serious issue.