Debbie Byer, Iocent Crammer, Aissatou Diallo, Maria Ines Garduno

Quebec pockets $2.8 billion in Hydro profits and still raises rates

Par Debbie Byer, Iocent Crammer, Aissatou Diallo, Maria Ines Garduno le 23 avril 2017

April 1st was a day of unpleasant surprises for many people across Quebec.  On this day Hydro Quebec started cutting electricity to households that have not been able to keep up with their electricity bills.  It was also the day when hydro hiked its rates 0.7 percent for residential consumers.  This increase is not trivial for the dramatically increasing numbers of households that have fallen behind on their bill payments.  While wages and government benefits have stagnated, the prices of food, rent, and other necessities have skyrocketed.  That the cost of electricity, an essential service under the responsibility of a crown corporation, should have also outpaced inflation is outrageous and shameful.