Fixed incomes, rising costs: Seniors need certainty on power prices, advocate says

Suzanne Brake has only been in office for less than a yearbut she says she's spoken to a significant number of seniors in that short time with the same stress: power rates.

"One issue that continues to come up is the concern and worry and fear by seniors regarding the cost of electricity in the future," Brake said Wednesday.

She is Newfoundland and Labrador's seniors' advocate, a position created in November 2017, and she is calling for Nalcor and the government to lay out a plan for dealing with electricity rates.

"I would like to see seniors being made aware of what the plans are for the future and to have their fears alleviated," Brake said.

Electricity rates have been going up, with Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro asking the Board of Commissioners of Public Utilitiesto approve a 1.2 per cent increase in January.

It's estimated rates will nearly double when Muskrat Falls comes online in a couple of years, from roughly 12 cents to 23 cents per kilowatt-hour.

"There is a real hope by seniors that this will be alleviated somehow and mediated somehow, given the fact that they are living on low and fixed incomes," the advocate said.

That could mean credits, that could mean reimbursements, but Brake said, most important, it should mean seniors are told how much power rates are increasing and when.

• Hydro president, consumer advocate face off over proposed rate hikes
• Ratepayer versus taxpayer: Stan Marshall raises subsidization question in latest talk on Muskrat Falls

Hydro, the Crown corporation responsible for power generation,is proposing a "rate stability rider," which would be addedin an effort "to help smooth the transition to post-Muskrat Falls rates," according to its website.

If approved by the PUB, that could mean a total of almost eightper cent extra come January 2019.

Many seniors have no way to pay

Brake said 20 per cent of the province's population is 65 and older, already forced to make difficult choices when it comes to spending with a median income of $41,000 for one couple.

But 22,000 seniors live on $21,000 or less a year some as low as $17,000.

"So those individuals I'm especially concerned about," Brake said.

"Because they tend to be the ones that come to me and say to me, 'This is how much money I have coming in,' and they can tell me right to a penny how much their income is."

"And then there's this extra issue now that's been thrown in there, which is is not something you counted on oryou took into account when you wereplanning your retirement and not that they control."

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador