Hydro rates will hurt local business

Costs must stabilize, or the province risks an energy crisis, he warns.

CANADA – The McGuinty government’s latest electricity rate hikes will hit London consumers especially hard, with a “devastating impact” on the city’s business community, Ontario Opposition Leader John Tory warned yesterday.

“London is facing one of the highest energy rate increases in the province,” said Tory, referring to the price hikes announced Wednesday by the Ontario Energy Board.

London Chamber of Commerce president Gerry Macartney agreed the rise in energy costs will hurt small and medium-sized businesses.

“I don’t know if I’d use Mr. Tory’s word, ‘devastating,’ but these hydro increases could have a critical and debilitating affect on the bottom line profitability and job creation of some businesses,” Macartney said.

London Free Press