The middle of each month brings an event that I despise in my house – bills.
Fortunately, most of my bills are within reason and don’t cause me undue stress. However, the one bill that really grinds my gears each month is the hydro bill.
One would assume the price of hydro is what gets me riled up, but in this case, you would be wrong.
Contrary to popular belief, Ontario has lower-than-average electricity rates. The average electricity cost in Canada per 1,000-kilowatt-hours, as of 2021, is 17.9 cents, according to Statista. Ontario’s average price per 1,000-kilowatt-hours is 13 cents.
Do I still think it’s too high? Well, I wouldn’t object to lower prices. Remember when the government lowered the rate to off-peak during the pandemic? Those were great days. Based on the announced revenues from hydro companies in 2021, they were still quite profitable.
But I digress.
No, what really grinds my gears about hydro bills is the wording, especially of the “delivery charge.”
What exactly is being delivered by the hydro company? It isn’t my bill via Canada Post – they email it.
Since the day I moved into my home nearly 11 years ago, not once has a truck from the hydro company pulled in my driveway and delivered anything.
Not once have I had to call the hydro company to say, “Hey, I’m running low on hydro. Can the delivery driver add me to their route today?”
And not once has the hydro company called me to ask if I need “a little bit extra” this month because it’s summertime and the air conditioner will be running.
Yet hydro companies claim they “deliver electricity safely and reliably to homes and businesses.”
Hydro companies define the charge as “the costs for delivering electricity from generating stations across the province” to the local utility and then to your home or business.
Again, it’s not like trucks are going in and out of the local hydro station making deliveries.
The delivery charge also includes the costs to build and maintain the transmission and distribution lines, towers and poles, and operate the system.
And, if your bill is anything like mine, this “delivery” charge makes up about 35 per cent of your bill.
I am smart enough to understand there is a need to raise funds to maintain and expand the infrastructure of the hydro system. I also admit that complaining about it is somewhat petty and will fall on deaf ears.
With that said, why not just call a spade and spade? Rename the charge to something that better describes what you are paying for, such as “Infrastructure Renewal Fee” or “System Service Charge.”
But that may make too much sense.
Something tells me hydro companies considered this, they would form a working group or task force to investigate the idea. Then a marketing and branding company would be hired to create a promotion for the new name of the fee.
And since this would cost money (likely hundreds of thousands) and profits need to grow each year to please stockholders, chances are this fee would increase to recover those costs.
On second thought, “Delivery Charge” has a nice ring to it.
Maybe some things are better left as they are.
***
Mike Wilson is the editor of Midwestern Newspapers, and around this time each month, he gets a little cranky. He welcomes comments and feedback at mwilson@midwesternnewspapers.com.
