with files from Siobhan Morris
Ontario's financial accountability office has crunched the numbers on energy costs in the province, comparing the cost of the old Liberal Fair Hydro Plan to the PC plan that replaced it last November.
The Liberal plan was projected to cost ratepayers $40 billion over 29 years, and since being replaced with the Ontario Electricity Rebate last year, Financial Accountability Officer Peter Weltman says the PCs are spending $4.5 to $5 billion per year.
"It is taxpayers that are paying for the electricity rebate, whereas the Fair Hydro Plan was charged to ratepayers," he said.
FAO calculations say the average Ontario household spent 2.6 per cent of disposable income on home energy costs, which is lower than the three per cent from 2010 to 2016.
While the cost to the average household has gone down, Weltman said it clearly shows the reality check for how much the government has to spend to keep it that way.
"Our nearest neighbours, who pay a lot less for electricity have been blessed with significant natural resources that allow them to have cheap electricity and that's just the luck of the draw," Weltman said.
Ontarians also saw the smallest increase in costs from 2010-2019 at $87 a year, whereas the national average was over $200.
As for whether Ontario can afford to keep spending billions every year to subsidize hydro bills every year, Weltman said that's not up to him.
"We don't have to answer the really, really hard questions, we just have to do the hard analysis and put the numbers out there," he said. "That is a really important questions that MPPs shoudl be asking of themselves, of the government, that citizens should be asking, is it sustainable?"
A long-term fiscal sustainability report is also expected from the office in the next few weeks.