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Kevin Massey, owner of the Old Dublin Bakery in St. John’s, was already fed up with the increasing cost of doing business.
“To buy a red pepper in the grocery store, you almost need to take out a loan,” Massey said.
Friday’s news that Newfoundland Power is looking to increase electricity rates by 1.5 per cent next year and then another 5.5 the year after has only angered Massey more.
“Electricity is actually our biggest utility,” Massey said.
“We pay about $10,000 a year in electricity, which is serious money. Seven per cent on top of that is $700, which doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but everything is increasing, not just electricity, everything — $700 is a lot of money if you don’t have it.”
As well, Massey is concerned about the indirect impacts a rate hike would also have on his business.
“Everybody is going to be charging more because of it,” he said. “Your grocery stores, your suppliers, everybody will pay more.”
“It’s ludicrous that they’re actually charging the ratepayers more when they clearly make such a huge profit as it is.… Somebody should actually hold Newfoundland Power accountable.”
Featured VideoKevin Massey says his business — the Old Dublin Bakery in St. John’s — will face a hit if electricity rates are hiked. But while he and his staff will work themselves harder to try to offset the difference, he says, he’s thinking about people on fixed incomes who are just barely making ends meet.
Massey said the proposed rate increase wouldn’t put him out of business, but it would require him to rethink some parts of how he does business.
“Everything costs money,” Massey said.
“We really do have to look back at our finances now and try to figure out what’s next. Because it’s not just a matter of, ‘Oh, let’s make more cookies to make more money,’ because every time you have the ovens on, it costs more money.”
‘Some local control’ over electricity costs
Meanwhile, electric car advocate Jon Seary is also concerned about the proposed rate increase, though he doesn’t think it will effect electric vehicle drivers.
“We’re always concerned when we see electricity rates [rise], not just for electric vehicle drivers, but for any homeowner, anybody that’s watching their budget,” said Seary, a co-founder of Drive Electric NL.
“While an increase in electricity rates certainly raises your costs, the costs [of an EV] are quite low to begin with compared to what you’re used to,” said Seary.
He said the cost of charging an EV will still be more reliable than the cost of fuelling a traditional gas powered vehicle.
“We know that our electricity rates are a regulated rate, they’re based out of fixed assets,” Seary said. “Whereas fuel costs are really dependent on market forces and global market forces that nobody in this province has any control over.”
“We’ve seen fuel costs skyrocket and stay high and that’s going to continue to trend upwards, whereas at least with electricity costs, we have some local control over those.”
However for people like Massey, the switch to electric is prohibitively expensive to begin with.
“The government would want us to switch to electricity as soon as possible, yet they fund the oil industry,” Massey said.
“I simply couldn’t afford to upgrade electrical cause it would be tens of thousands if I had to switch to electrical.”
The proposed rate hikes still have to be reviewed by the Public Utility Board before a decision is made, but Massey isn’t optimistic about the chances of the PUB rejecting the proposal.
“Nothing is going to be done about it, it’s just going to happen and we’ll just have to pay,” Massey said.
For him, the increased cost of electricity is just one of many ways that is causing the cost of running his bakery to go up.
“It’s this today, it’s something else tomorrow.”
Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
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