London Health Sciences electricity bills surge by $2.4 million
TORONTO, ON: Documents obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) reveal a dramatic increase to the cost of electricity at the University Hospital and Victoria Hospital campuses of London Health Sciences.
The documents, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, show that in the last five years, bills for two hospitals rose from $6.87 million to $9.24 million. That’s a 35 per cent increase.
The bills for the Victoria Hospital rose by $931,629 (27%). The bills for University Hospital rose by $1.48 million (44%). The South Street Hospital is currently being decommissioned, so their bills have not been included in this analysis.
“The more these hospitals have to spend keeping their lights on, the fewer resources they have for patients,” said CTF Ontario Director, Christine Van Geyn. “In 2016, the London University Hospital had the highest rates of overcrowding in the province. Money could be spent addressing that problem rather than throwing money away on out of control electricity bills.”
Ontario has seen dramatic increases to the cost of electricity, with bills for residential consumers more than doubling in the last decade.
“Families across the province all feel the pain of rapid increases to the cost of electricity when they pay their home electricity bill. But what many people don’t think about is the cost of the Ontario government’s failed electricity policy to the institutions we all rely on, like London Health Sciences,” continued Van Geyn.
“Instead of paying an additional $2.4 million for higher electricity bills, that money could have paid for seven state of the art MRI machines so that people at the hospital don’t need to wait 101 days for a scan, like they do today. That’s what Ontario families expect hospitals to spend money on, rather than wasting money on this government’s hydro rip-off.”
The documents detailing London Health Sciences’ electricity bills can be found HERE.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is currently running a campaign opposing the Green Energy Act and cap-and-trade atwww.StopHighEnergyBills.ca