Town of Collingwood, Ontario, Canada

"I requested an accounting of how many of Collus Power customers have signed agreements with an Electricity Retailer and what the cost comparisons would be. The results of the review provided to me by our LDC were extremely shocking"
-- Mayor Chris Carrier

Collingwood Mayor Chris Carrier has taken action to help protect Collingwood citizens from what he calls "pushy door-to-door Electricity Retailers." In fact, Mayor Carrier himself has been bothered at his own front door by an Electricity Retailer who wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. Carrier has written a letter to Ontario Minister of Energy & Infrastructure George Smitherman, urging the provincial government to address the issue right away before more Ontario citizens find themselves having to pay too much for energy.

Here is a copy of the letter from Mayor Carrier:

Minister George Smitherman
Ontario Minister of Energy & Infrastructure
900 Bay Street, 4th Floor
Hearst Block
Toronto, Ontario
M7A 2E1

Subject: Financial Impact of Electricity Retailers on Ontario Consumers

Dear Minister Smitherman:

I am writing this letter in an attempt to protect the constituents of Collingwood that I have been duly elected to represent.

Collingwood is a community of 17,290 permanent residents and inclusive of seasonal residences has a population of 24,600. Our population is a wonderful blend of locals and new citizens who have chosen to retire in a beautiful four-season resort region.

On many occasions since I have been elected Mayor I have been personally contacted by citizens, friends and family with concerns and questions regarding pushy door-to-door Electricity Retailers. In fact in my own home, I was subjected to their aggressive tactics ignoring many assertions that I was not interested. This goes along with the many questions and complaints that our local Utility, Town Staff and my fellow Councillors have also had to field.

On Friday, March 20, 2009, I had the opportunity to watch the CBC marketplace show entitled “The Power of Persuasion” hosted by Wendy Mesley. I must admit that after watching the show and after listening to the many complaints, I was not at all shocked. The segment was a very accurate representation of the complaints that we have received locally. One fact that was raised during the CBC show was that 100% of the customers that have signed with Retailers since 2005 on the false promise of saving money have actually paid more for their energy. This prompted me to immediately contact our local distribution company, Collus Power Corp., of which Collingwood Municipal Council is the sole shareholder. I requested an accounting of how many of Collus Power customers have signed agreements with an Electricity Retailer and what the cost comparisons would be. Unlike the CBC Marketplace program, the results of the review provided to me by our LDC were extremely shocking. It turns out that at present approximately 1,800 or 12% of our account holders has signed contracts with Electricity Retailers. Through the twelve months in 2008, those 1,800 residential and small commercial customers paid $1,007,569.28 more for the energy portion of the bill than the true cost of power. This figure is particularly disturbing during these tough economic times given that the one million dollars is an after tax income which could have been spent locally for goods and services to help spur our local economy but rather it went into the pockets of these Electricity Retailers. I am told that there could be as many as 1,000,000 customers, province wide that have signed retail contracts and using our experience that represents more than one half billion dollars that was needlessly spent in 2008 alone.

Collingwood, not unlike the rest of our beautiful province has lost many jobs in the past few years. Locally the loss of four significant employers has placed many Collingwood families in financial difficulty. One could easily assume that having lost good paying jobs, these families would likely be the ones who are more apt to sign contracts given the promise of savings but rather are now struggling to put money in the pockets of aggressive energy retailers.

This money could be used by our residents and our businesses to finance their homes, their clothing, food, tuition, business products, etc.

Mr. Minister, on behalf of Collingwood Council and our entire community, I respectfully urge the Ontario Government to address this issue immediately before more of our hard working residents and businesses pay too much for the energy they require to survive. Our ratepayers expect us to establish and operate an electricity system that supports and provides opportunities for growth. More importantly, our ratepayers expect their local and provincial governments to protect them from these types of activities.

I look forward to your reply on this very important issue.