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“We’re starting from a lot lower place than where we would have in 2013,” said Glenn Thibeault.

The front-loaded decreases in electricity costs prompted the opposition parties to decry the government’s energy plan as a political document.

“This was written for the election,” said NDP critic Peter Tabuns. “This is not a planning document.”

Thibeault said he would have loved to have announced rates were being frozen, but Progressive Conservative critic Todd Smith said this plan essentially does freeze rates, just in the very short term.

“This is all about getting Kathleen Wynne re-elected next year,” he said. “They’re freezing rates to get us through the next election period because they know how detrimental this whole energy crisis is for Ontario.”

Wynne denied that the energy plan was about the election, saying it was about giving people relief now in the form of the 25 per cent cut, but also trying to slow the rise in prices after that.

“The long-term energy plan demonstrates that we will hold those costs down, that there will be increases but that the trajectory of increases is flatter than it was in the last long-term energy plan,” she said.

The government said it plans to avoid sharp increases to bills through initiatives including only securing new power when it’s needed and allowing more people to produce their own green energy to power their homes.

From 2021 to 2024 bills are projected to rise by around $10 or $12 a year, which is for the most part much higher than annual increases projected in the last long-term energy plan.