Hospital hydro costs in London rose nearly $2 million over past six years

Hydro costs at London Health Sciences Centre have climbed by nearly $2 million according to documents attained by provincial NDPs, despite a drop in consumption over the past six years.

Andrea Horwath questioned the Liberal government on their plan to help hospitals manage hydro costs at Queen’s Park on Tuesday, drawing on information she attained by freedom of information requests at a number of Ontario hospitals.

According to those documents, London Health Sciences Centre’s usage fluctuates slightly but represents an overall drop from around 68.1 million kilowatts in 2010 to 59.1 million kilowatts in 2016, while yearly costs for hydro went from around $6.7 million in 2010 to $8.6 million in 2016.

“That’s a serious jump in the price of electricity that the hospitals have to find in its budget, and everybody knows that the hospitals have been squeezed,” Horwath told AM980.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "That's a serious jump in the price of electricity that the hospitals have to find in its budget, and everybody knows that the hospitals have been squeezed," Horwath told AM980.

“London has been the ground zero for the crisis in the hospital system, and yet the government is pretending that somehow these exorbitant electricity rate increases haven’t affected the hospitals whatsoever. It’s outrageous.”

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The numbers represent hydro usage and costs at Victoria Hospital, University Hospital, and South Street Hospital; the latter of which officially closed its doors in January 2013, and could account for the largest drop in usage by around 7.5 million kilowatts between 2013 and 2014.

During Question Period, Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault said hospitals will only “see a modest reduction between 2 per cent and 4 per cent.”

That’s not enough for the third party, whose leader said the NDP’s plan for reducing hydro costs would cut hydro bills by as much as 30 per cent for all customers, return Hydro One to public hands, and eliminate time-of-use billing and delivery charges.

“[Hospitals] are completely stuck, and there’s very few options left, and that’s why we’ve seen the erosion of care and the stress on the staff there, and the frustration of the people in London in terms of the quality and the access that they’re receiving, when it comes to their health care,” said Horwath.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "[Hospitals] are completely stuck, and there's very few options left, and that's why we've seen the erosion of care and the stress on the staff there, and the frustration of the people in London in terms of the quality and the access that they're receiving, when it comes to their health care," said Horwath.

“It’s a recipe for a disaster. It’s a recipe for the hallway medicine that we’re seeing frankly in London, and there’s no excuse for it.”

Freedom of information requests were filed at five other Ontario hospitals, including Toronto’s University Health Network that saw a $6-million hydro cost increase over six years, and at Hamilton’s St Joseph’s Healthcare that saw a $4.16-million increase over six years.