Residents and businesses in Ontario will see their natural gas bill drop by Oct. 1 with the repeal of the provincial carbon tax, Premier Doug Ford announced on Wednesday.
The government said removing the carbon tax means a reduction of approximately 3.3 cents per cubic metre on the price of natural gas, which will save consumers about $80 a year and businesses up to $285 a year.
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“Consumers will pay less because we are removing the cost of the carbon tax from the natural gas rates,” Ford said during a visit at a restaurant in Milton. “Reducing energy costs is a key part to our promise to the people of Ontario.”
The Progressive Conservative government introduced legislation on July 25 to repeal the carbon tax under the Cap and Trade Cancellation Act.
The Ontario Energy Board has been told to provide notice to natural gas utilities no later than Aug. 31 instructing them to file the new customer rates with the carbon tax charges removed.
Ford vowed to fight Ottawa’s carbon pricing plan, which is schedule to kick in on Jan. 1, and eliminate Ontario’s cap-and-trade system during the spring election campaign.
The Tory government has since introduced legislation to scrap cap-and-trade and cancel programs financed through its revenues, which include rebates for energy-efficient renovations, transit projects and a fund for school repairs.
Ontario NDP critic Ian Arthur said Ford’s re-announcement on the the cancellation of cap-and-trade will end up costing Ontarians.
“It means families and businesses will lose out on green energy retrofits that would have brought real relief to monthly bills and put actual dollars in their pockets,” Arthur said in a statement. “And cancelling cap-and-trade and ripping up hundreds of contracts means taxpayers could be on the hook for billions of dollars in penalties.”
“In short, Ford’s actions move Ontario backwards, do detrimental damage to our lakes and rivers and the air our children breath – and he’s forcing us all to pay extra for it.”
–With a file from The Canadian Press
WATCH: Ontario government to remove carbon tax by Oct. 1