BARRY’S BAY – More than 200 people from all around Renfrew County gathered in Barry’s Bay to voice their Hydro One frustrations on March 1.
The meeting was held at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 406 and was hosted by Barry’s Bay resident John Hildebrandt and members of the Renfrew County Private Landowners Association.
Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke MPP John Yakabuski attended the meeting as well.
“It looks like we have a lot of very dissatisfied Ontario Hydro customers with us today,” Hildebrandt said.
He said the meeting was an effort to collect information from Hydro One customers.
“Although it would be hard to keep politics out of the equation, I want to ensure everyone that this is not about politics, but rather the policies put in place by the ministry of energy and carried out by the senior management of Hydro One – a system that seems to be totally out of control,” Hildebrandt said. “This is not an attack on the employees of Hydro, but an attack on the system they all have to work under.”
Everyone in attendance was asked to fill out a questionnaire, asking for their experience with Hydro One. It also asked if people would support a forensic investigation into the entire operation of the publically owned utility
“From this information, we can arrive at a consensus and make plans for what our next plans should be,” Hildebrandt said.
MPP John Yakabuski said his office in Pembroke has received thousands of complaints about Hydro One, ranging from the price of hydro to the billing module itself.
“In many cases, we are able to assist people,” he said. “But the problem is, it shouldn’t come to my office to get your hydro bill fixed. You should be able to call Hydro One, state your case to what your problem is and they should be able to fix it.”
Get your March 5, 2014 edition of The Valley Gazette to read this full story.