On the surface Tim Hudak and his Progressive Conservative party seem to be all-around nice guys. They are concerned about you and your family and want to do everything they can to help ends meet and ensure your family doesn't get ripped off by anyone. They are in fact so nice that they are willing to promise an HST rebate on your hydro and gas bill just to show how much they care about your ability to pay for your needed utilities.

What you may not know is that this very same party lead under Mike Harris and Ernie Eves de-regulated the energy sector during their time in power.

Have you ever gotten a knock at your from a representative of an energy reseller such as Universal Energy or Just Energy? They want you to sign up for fixed rate contracts. Does this sound familiar? In fact many people believe that fixed rate energy deals like this are some kind of illegal scam. In fact they are not illegal at all because Harris and Eves passed laws which allow third party companies to make contracts with the consumer and your local utility is required to honour the deal by co-operating with it. Do you remember agents like this coming around before Harris? If you find that the price that you signed up for far greater than the market price, even after you've been on it for years there is no legal recourse that will allow you to renege without paying a cancellation fee.

The business plan is called commodity brokering. Companies claim that they buy gas and hydro from the spot market in bulk, at times that its cheapest, natural gas in the summer for instance. Then they sell it back to the consumer at a fixed price. Because natural gas is expensive in the winter, in theory they will be able to sell it back to the consumer for more than the original purchase price but less than the current market price. Thus they can save you money while turning a profit. It all makes sense right?

The argument is logical. Nevertheless many consumers who have signed up for these contracts since the time they were first offered have found that in the long run they lost money, often to the tune of thousands. Where is this money going?

Frank Klees, sitting Progressive Conservative MPP for Newmarket-Aurora is running again in the October 6, 2011 provincial election. He is the guy that came in second to Hudak in the last provincial leadership race. He is a high profile Tory who held cabinet positions under Harris and undoubtedly will again if the Progressive Conservatives make it in this time. The owner of Universal Energy Alternatives underwrote one fifth of his entire campaign with a donation of $34K. Not only did Universal give Klees a big donation, they also gave him a seat on their board of directors. Now that Universal Energy is sold to Just Energy, he has a seat on the board there too. In other words if you want to vote for the guy that comes to your door to sign you up for a price protection plan then Frank Klees and his cronnies, like Hudak are the names you should check on your ballot!

as soon as that happens,the supplier is kicked off the service.

The only way an alternative gas and electricity supplier can enroll you is:

1. Someone sign a contract. The people who are authorized to sign the contract and to have the contract legal binding for 5 years are the people responsible for paying the utility or in your case the hydro (electricity) bill. Their name must be on the hydro bill or the contract is void. If your roommate or kids sign the contract, but their name is not on the hydro bill, the contract is void.

2. They need to call you to reaffirm the deal. They need to call you 10 days after you sign the contract at the door. This is law in Ontario, or there is no contract. You may cancel within the first 10 days without any penalty. Starting Jan 2011, you may cancel any other alternative gas and electricity suppliers within the first 30 days after you received your first bill with them.

Also, the people who need to reaffirm the call must be the same people who are responsible for paying the hydro bill, their name must be on the hydro bill or the contract is void.

3. They need #1 (sign contract) and #2 (reaffirm call), they need both, if they don’t have one of them there is no deal. You may call to cancel without any fee and ask for your money back. Ask for the money you over paid the company vs your local hydro utility. Obviously, canceling is hard enough, so don’t expect them to just pay you back. But if your contract is void from the start, you should get your money back. That is your right.

Read this page, it talks about how to cancel. https://www.keyframe5.com/how-to-cancel-and-get-ou…