[homeles_ot-l] Fwd: LIEN MEDIA RELEASE: Fight for lower energy bills for poor goes to Divisional Court

[Terrie]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Zeenat Bhanji <bhanjiz at lao.on.ca>
Date: 25 Feb 2008 08:46
Subject: LIEN MEDIA RELEASE: Fight for lower energy bills for poor goes to
Divisional Court
To:


 <<LIEN one-pager_Feb 2008.pdf>> <<OEB appeal_media release_Feb 25.pdf>>

[image: Paintbrush Picture]*****Low-Income Energy Network*


*For immediate release:
                February 25, 2008*
**

*Fight for lower energy bills for poor goes to Divisional Court*

(Toronto) – Today, the Low-Income Energy Network (LIEN) is appearing before
a Divisional Court panel* at 10:00 a.m. at** Osgoode Hall, 130 Queen Street
West, Courtroom #3.* LIEN is arguing**** that the Ontario Energy Board (OEB)
has the authority to set affordable gas rates for low-income energy
consumers.

In April 2007, the OEB released a decision that it had no jurisdiction
to implement
rate affordability programs for low-income residential consumers. The Board
decision was not unanimous. In a strongly worded dissent, OEB Vice Chair
Gordon Kaiser argued, "I believe the Act gives the Ontario Energy Board
broad powers and discretion to consider issues of public policy and the
necessary jurisdiction to enact low-income rates."  Mr. Kaiser continued,
"Put simply, just and reasonable rates do not result from the application of
a purely mechanical process of rate review and design."

LIEN is appealing the OEB's decision to Divisional Court because a permanent
rate assistance program is a crucial component of its strategy to address
energy poverty in Ontario.

LIEN's representatives Mary Truemner, Acting Director of Legal Services with
the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, and co-counsel Paul Manning of
Willms & Shier Environmental Lawyers LLP said, "Low-income consumers
struggle to manage their energy bills and pay for other essentials such as
rent, food, transportation and medicine. The OEB should take this daily
reality into account in order to set rates that are reasonable and just .

"We are hoping to convince the Court that the OEB is failing to protect the
interests of low-income consumers whose only access to the vital service of
energy is through a narrowly regulated utility currently allowed to set
inequitable rates."

*-30-*

*For more information:*

Mary Truemner, ACTO, 416-597-5855 ext. 5163, cell: 416-996-1021
(Toll free in Ontario: 1-866-245-4182 ext. 5163)
*www.lowincomeenergy.ca* <http://www.lowincomeenergy.ca>




-- 
Terrie ( mocharebyl at gmail.com )
"If you see an injustice being committed, you aren't an observer, you are a
participant." June Callwood
Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and
renders the present inaccessible.  Maya Angelou
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