[homeles_ot-l] Fwd: LIEN has won the Divisional Court appeal of the OEB decision - media release & Toronto Star article

[Terrie]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Zeenat Bhanji <bhanjiz at lao.on.ca>
Date: Tue, May 20, 2008 at 5:26 PM
Subject: LIEN has won the Divisional Court appeal of the OEB decision -
media release & Toronto Star article
To:



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


*For immediate release:


May 16, 2008*

**

*Victory at Divisional Court - *

*But low-income energy consumers still face fight for affordable rates*

(Toronto) – Today, the Divisional Court sided with low-income Ontarians to
rule that "the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) has the jurisdiction to establish
a rate affordability assistance program for low-income consumers."

The Low-Income Energy Network (LIEN)'s representatives Mary Truemner, Acting
Director of Legal Services with the legal aid clinic the Advocacy Centre for
Tenants Ontario, and co-counsel Paul Manning of Willms & Shier Environmental
Lawyers LLP were pleased that the Court declared that "to further the
objective of protecting 'the interests of consumers' this could mean taking
into account income levels and pricing to achieve the delivery of affordable
energy to low income consumers …".  They were cautious, however, in
responding to the Court's determinations.

"While the Court ruled the OEB has jurisdiction, they did not also determine
that the Board* must* exercise their discretion to set affordable rates for
low-income consumers," said Mary Truemner. "It is for this reason that we
urge the Minister of Energy to issue a directive that the Ontario Energy
Board must design a rate affordability program to minimize the effects of
rising energy costs on low-income Ontarians facing choices between heating,
eating and paying the rent.  The Court noted that "the Minister has not
issued any policy statement directing the board to base rates on
considerations of the ability to pay."

The Income Security Advocacy Centre, a LIEN member and legal aid clinic, is
asking that the government address energy poverty in its Poverty Reduction
Strategy.


*-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>





 <http://www.thestar.com/default> [image: Picture (Metafile)]
*Way clear to help poor pay heat bills TheStar.com - Ontario - Way clear to
help poor pay heat bills*
*Ontario court backs subsidy plan for energy affordability, but up to energy
minister to start*
May 19, 2008
*Laurie Monsebraaten*
Social Justice Reporter

Low-income households struggling to pay rising heating costs may soon get
some long-awaited relief.
In a decision Friday, Ontario's Divisional Court overruled the position
taken by the Ontario Energy Board, as arbiter of natural gas and electricity
prices, that it lacked the legal authority to implement a special pricing
plan to protect vulnerable residents from rising rates.

The ruling means Ontario may soon join jurisdictions in the United States
and Europe that have energy affordability programs to help low-income
households pay their heat and electricity bills, say anti-poverty activists
who have been working on the issue for more than two years.

"With natural gas prices expected to rise by 20 per cent next winter, this
is definitely good news," said lawyer Mary Truemner, who argued the case on
behalf of the Low-Income Energy Network, a coalition of community legal
clinics and organizations that work with people living in poverty.

However, the court did not order the OEB to set special rates for the poor
and noted in its decision that the province's Minister of Energy "has not
issued any policy statement directing the board to base rates on
considerations of the ability to pay."

As a result, the network is now turning to Energy Minister Gerry Phillips to
keep the ball rolling, Truemner said.
"We want him to direct the OEB to hold a generic hearing on the impact of
rising energy prices on low-income Ontarians facing choices between heating,
eating and paying the rent and to consider a rate affordability program,"
she said.

Households that fall below Statistics Canada's low-income cut-offs should be
eligible for help, Truemner said.
In 2006, that applied to any Toronto family of four with an after-tax income
of $33,221 or less.
The province has an Emergency Energy Fund and other programs, but the
network says they don't cover every household in need.

***http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/427346*<http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/427346>




-- 
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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