Cramahe resident takes concerns to province

On March 31, Cramahe resident, Alwyn Horscroft sent a letter to the MPP for Northumberland-Quinte West, Lou Rinaldi, expressing concerns about Bill 150 - the Green Energy Act.

Mr. Rinaldi suggested that the constituent communicate his conerns to the Clerk of the Standing Committee which will look at the act before it is passed by the provincial legislature.

Mr. Horscroft's letter is below:

Dear Mr Arnott,

I wrote to Mr. Rinaldi expressing a few concerns over the Green Energy Act, and he told me I should write to you as Clerk of the Standing Committee which will be looking at the act.

Mr. Rinaldi did answer some of my worries, which are mainly about the home inspections. My concerns are mainly for people such as pensioners who have limited means but are still lucky enough to own a house.

Mr. Rinaldi tells me that half of the expense of an audit would be paid by the government. However I am still worried about the expense which he suggested may be around $150 for the homeowner. I would suspect that this will be nearer $200 - $250 out here in the country by the time the inspector has charged for travelling time, and I expect there would be harmonised sales tax on top of this.

At a time when there would be all sorts of extra expenses such as moving, probably to a seniors home where first and last month's rent would be required, an extra couple of hundred comes as an unnecessary expense.

It was pointed out that up to a $10,000 federal/provincial retrofit rebate package is available to help pay for any improvements, but this implies that the owner will have put out the money in the first place. Those on a pension don't have that kind of money.

Many of us are living in houses over 100 years old and we know that the houses leak heat all over the place. It isn't that we don't support the principles of the Green Energy Act. It is just that we are not in a position to pay any extra money, although, in our case, when we have had some we have spent it on improvements.

I, for one, am not convinced of the efficiency of the audits. When we bought our house, we had it inspected by a gentleman who taught home inspection at Durham college (as it was then) and it wasn't until we plugged in the dryer that we discovered that there was no power there.

I traced the wiring and discovered that the 240 volts which should have been directed to the dryer had been diverted underneath the lawn to the garage. This wasn't difficult to find.


I was also concerned about the power of entry which will be given to the auditors and would like to be sure that the wording in the act takes into consideration an owners rights to privacy and the right to live in peace.

I would be grateful if the Standing Committee would take these matters into consideration.

Yours Sincerely,

Alwyn P. Horscroft