From: Yellow Lab [mailto:budbg@xplornet.com]
Sent: January 15, 2009 9:31 PM
To: BoardSec
Subject: RE: Electricity Distribution Rate Change Application # EB-2008-0187



January 15, 2009



To:

Ontario Energy Board

P.O. Box 2319

2300 Yonge St., 27th Floor,

Toronto, Ont.,

M4P 1E4

Attention: Board Secretary, Kirsten Walli



RE: Electricity Distribution Rate Change Application # EB-2008-0187



Dear Ms. Walli:



I am writing to state my objections to the above application. Our household lies within St. Joe's Island, Twp. of St. Joseph in the District of Algoma; it is in a rural setting approximately 50km. east of Sault Ste. Marie. We are linked to the grid via the Gr. Lakes Power (Brookfield) system. It is my position that residents here and in other rural areas of the north are being discriminated against via the current distribution system pricing policy (aka "delivery charges") i.e. we pay a far greater price as a percentage of total billing for this so-called "delivery" than households in the city of Sault Ste. Marie for example; and there is an even greater margin of difference compared to charges levied in larger cities, with citizens in the Toronto horseshoe getting the cheapest rates in the Province. This pricing policy is simply not equitable. All Ontario citizens should be under the same price structure whether their usage is within large towns or in rural settings.



To use our specific household as an example for the period May/07 through May/08 we have seen our billings for "delivery", expressed as a percentage of actual kwh consumption billings range from a high of 146% to a low of 112%; this is preposterous to say the least. The formula being used flies in the face of energy conservation since when household attempts are made to reduce consumption the "delivery" billing is accentuated to the point where it becomes totally assinine as there is clearly no direct relationship between the so-called "delivery" cost actually incurred to make the "delivery" and actual consumption. To put it another way, in numerical terms, it simply cannot be true that it costs $146 to deliver $100 worth of kwh; there is no rational relationship within this system and I submit that Ontarians are the victims of a system gone terribly awry since Ontario Hydro was disassembled in favour of the current morass of bureaucracies.



For Hydro One to be making application to increase this so-called "delivery charge" to even greater heights is nothing short of criminal. In my view, especially given the current economy, this would be the propitious moment for the OEB to tell Hydro One to go fly a kite. Your public notice indicates that the average increase in delivery charges under this Application would range from 4 to 7%; and I would ask you to consider that elsewhere in this troubled economy (except perhaps in the teaching profession) you would not find anyone with household income increases anywhere close to those levels.



I would ask that the OEB work speedily towards the complete abolition of these discriminatory "delivery charges" in favour of a pricing policy for electricity that is based soley on the actual consumption any household or business uses; and further, that the kwh rate charged be consistent across all users whether use is in city or rural settings.



Yours truly,





Ron P. Alton

403 Riverside Dr.

Box 235

Richards Landing,

Ont., P0R 1J0

Phone: 705-246-0230 (fax 0689)

Email: budbg@xplornet.com



cc. Hon. George Smitherman, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Queen's Park, Toronto