Auditor General Bonnie Lysek has scored the Ontario government for complicated bookkeeping used to hide the cost of debt and interest incurred by the Fair Hydro Plan. This is a scheme to borrow against the future to lower hydro rates now. Power bills skyrocketed in recent years, pushed through the roof by the provincial adventure into green energy. Lysek calls the scheme “needlessly complex” and remarks tartly that it would not be seen anywhere else in the country. She says the government is “improperly” accounting for the $26 billion in debt the province is taking on to cut hydro bills in the short term. The $26 billion is being borrowed through Ontario Power Generation, so will not appear on the province’s books. Electricity customers will pay off that debt through rate increases spread out over the next 30 years. CBC
