[homeles_ot-l] Fwd: LIEN bulletin - August/September issue
Terrie
mocharebyl at gmail.com
Fri Sep 28 00:48:45 EDT 2007
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Zeenat Bhanji <bhanjiz at lao.on.ca>
Date: 26 Sep 2007 16:31
Subject: LIEN bulletin - August/September issue
To:
<<LIEN newsletter - Aug,Sept 2007.pdf>>
[image: Paintbrush Picture] [image: Picture (Metafile)]******
The bi-monthly bulletin of the Low-Income Energy Network (LIEN)
*Volume 2, No.5, August/September 2007*
- *Raise awareness about energy poverty during the provincial election
– LIEN's Lobby Kit now available on-line*
LIEN has been working hard to ensure that low-income people have
affordable energy bills and access to conservation programs to reduce their
energy use and help combat climate change. We have designed a Lobby Kit
which offers an introduction to the problem of energy poverty and how it can
be best addressed. The kit includes some simple templates which you can use
locally in your advocacy work with politicians and your community. Pay
special attention to page 19 which outlines how you can help advocate in the
provincial election for commitments from the political parties to address
energy poverty, particularly for energy conservation and rate assistance
programs for low-income households.
- *LIEN urges Premier McGuinty to put affordable energy rate program
in place for low-income consumers*
On August 31st, LIEN wrote a letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty and the
Ministers for Energy, Environment, Housing, and Community & Social Services,
calling on the government to act on implementing a permanent energy rate
affordability program – a key component in the comprehensive strategy that
LIEN has been recommending to address energy poverty in Ontario. LIEN
stressed in the correspondence that, as Ontarians go to the polls on October
10th, the issues of energy, poverty and health will be of critical
importance.
LIEN has not received a reply from the Energy Minister to our May
9thwritten request that he issue a Ministerial Directive to the
Ontario Energy
Board to hold a generic hearing on the impact of energy prices on low-income
consumers. At such a generic hearing, LIEN wants the OEB to consider and
implement solutions that would include a low-income energy rate assistance
program.
- *Union Gas offers no-cost Energy Savings Kit to low-income customers
*
* * Union Gas has developed a free energy efficiency and conservation
program, "Helping Homes Conserve", targeted at low-income homeowners and
low-income tenants who pay for their energy bills directly and are Union Gas
customers. Low-income participants will benefit from the free installation
of an Energy Saving Kits (which contain up to 2 low-flow showerheads, two
faucet aerators, and pipe insulation) and the free installation of a
programmable thermostat. Customers must have a natural gas water heater to
qualify for the ESK installation, and a natural gas furnace to qualify for
the programmable thermostat installation. The program was launched in
Hamilton on August 17th and will be expanded this fall to include other
cities in Union Gas territory. For more information, eligibility criteria
and to obtain an application form, visit
*www.helpinghomes.ca*<http://www.helpinghomes.ca>OR call
1-866-354-5098.
Union Gas has indicated to LIEN that it expects to launch in 2008 a
low-income demand-side management program that may include more extensive
measures to address energy inefficient appliances, the building envelope and
heating systems.
- *No financial penalties for OW/ODSP recipients participating in
energy conservation programs *
LIEN has been actively working with the Ministry of Community and
Social Services to remove any barriers and/or disincentives to social
assistance recipients' participation in low-income energy conservation
& demand management/demand side management (CDM/DSM) programs – and we have
notified the Ministry as these programs were launched in Ontario. As a
result, directives and bulletins have been issued by the Ministry,
confirming
that financial grants, items or services provided through electricity
distributors' CDM programs and natural gas distributors' DSM programs are
not considered income or assets for the purposes of social assistance. Items
and services provided under the OPA's low-income Energy Efficiency
Assistance Program for Houses Pilot Program have also been exempted from the
income and asset rules.
- *Extra charges for air-conditioning may be illegal – check your
lease agreement*
As summer approached, hundreds of tenants across Ontario were
receiving notices from their landlords requesting the payment of an extra
charge (for example, $30 or $50 monthly), in addition to their rent, for the
electricity used to run an air conditioner in their rental unit. Unless
there is a provision in a tenant's lease agreement which allows for extra
charges to operate an air-conditioner, a landlord cannot unilaterally charge
for extra utility costs. It is an offence under the* Residential
Tenancies* Act (RTA) for a landlord to ask for a new charge for
electricity for air-conditioning when this utility is included in the
monthly rent.
- *What you need to know about energy retail contracts – OEB launches
consumer awareness campaign*
There has been an increase in residential energy retailing activity
across the province, with door-to-door salespeople offering consumers the
option to purchase energy itself (electricity or gas) at a contracted
price. It is especially important that low-income consumers understand the
financial implications of signing such energy retail contracts, as they may
end up paying more for the commodity on their utility bills.
The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) is offering an information session that
can help consumers when they are deciding how to buy their electricity or
natural gas. This is so as to provide consumers with comprehensive
information regarding energy contracts and help them become more aware
of their rights, options and responsibilities. Earlier in the summer,
the OEB launched a consumer awareness campaign entitled "The Energy Choice
is Yours" to address this matter: ***
http://www.oeb.gov.on.ca/energychoiceisyours/en/index.htm*<http://www.oeb.gov.on.ca/energychoiceisyours/en/index.htm>.
The OEB wants to continue to reach consumers with the campaign and has
contacted LIEN, along with other targeted organizations, for assistance in
identifying groups across Ontario that may benefit from the information
sessions.
*LIEN Currents** is issued bi-monthly by the Low-Income Energy Network for
members and others interested in solutions to energy poverty in Ontario. For
more information, contact Zee Bhanji at **bhanjiz at lao.on.ca*<bhanjiz at lao.on.ca+>
* or 416-597-5855 ext. 5167. You can also visit our website at **
www.lowincomeenergy.ca***
[image: Picture (Metafile)]********
*LIEN would like to express its appreciation to the Ontario Trillium
Foundation for supporting this initiative*
--
Terrie ( mocharebyl at gmail.com )
"If you see an injustice being committed, you aren't an observer, you are a
participant." June Callwood
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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