With hydro prices on the rise, the Ontario government has been dogged with complaints, particularly from rural residents. Amid the turmoil, Postmedia Network checked in with five ratepayers across Ontario to see how much they pay — and what they’re doing to pay less.

The old farmhouse where hydro bills have doubled

Leonard Gendron — Hammond, Ont.

Average monthly bill : $400-$500

Utility : Hydro One

Home : 3,700 sq-ft farmhouse

This week, Leonard Gendron was getting a quote for replacing the windows and doors of his century-old home east of Ottawa. The doors alone will cost $10,000 — which he considers a worthwhile investment, after watching his hydro bills double in five years.

"It’s almost as stressful as my mortgage payment," he said. Gendron and his partner live alone in the six-bedroom house. They use only LED lighting, keep their laundry and dishwashing confined to off-peak hours, and use a timer on the pump for their pool so that it doesn’t run during peak billing times. "It’s definitely on my mind every day: ‘Is this off? Is that off? Should I do a load of laundry?’ It’s becoming part of my daily routine and how I live in my own house."

Hydro One, the province’s largest utility, points to Ontario’s move from coal to green energy as the biggest factor driving bills up. And if people like Gendron didn’t make strides to be more efficient, it would be even worse, said Ferio Pugliese, Hydro One’s executive vice president of customer and corporate affairs. "Put it this way," he said, "if they hadn’t have done that conservation, the bill would have gone even higher."

The rural couple who switched to heating with oil after a $600 monthly hydro bill

Dave Kay — Schreiber, Ont.

Average monthly bill : $160-$220

Utility : Hydro One

Home : 1,500 sq-ft three-bedroom detached

When Dave Kay built his house in the mid-1980s in a town of less than 1,200, 200 kilometres east of Thunder Bay, the cheapest way to heat it was with electricity. "I switched over and went to fuel oil because I couldn’t afford the bills," he said. "We were talking $600 monthly in the winter."

The city-dwelling brothers with a manageable power bill

Will Tam — Toronto, Ont.

Average monthly bill : $100

Utility : Toronto Hydro

Home : 1,100 sq-ft bungalow

Will Tam counts himself somewhere between strict and moderate when it comes to conserving power around his house in north Toronto. He switches lights out and cooks later at night, when it’s cheaper to use the power grid. His brother and roommate, however, is more cavalier. "He kind of uses as he wishes," Tam said. But no matter. "It’s affordable, but it would be nicer if it was a bit cheaper."

The woman with ‘unbelievable’ surcharges for living up north

Leona Arnold — McKerrow, Ont.

Average monthly bill: $250-$400

Utility: Hydro One

Home: 1,200 sq-ft

Living an hour west of Sudbury along the Trans-Canada highway, Leona Arnold said she pays Hydro One almost as much to deliver her electricity as she does for the electricity itself. In August, her charge for electricity usage was $136.51, while her delivery charge was $125.30. "I have no idea how they’ve come up with charging the north like this," she said. "It’s unbelievable." The reason for it, Hydro One says, is the cost of maintaining the network that gets electricity to each house. In densely populated cities, that cost is spread out to the point that it’s almost negligible on a bill. In rural areas, where power lines may only serve one or two homes, fewer people split the same upkeep cost.

"Do I think it’s fair? That’s a very good question," said Pugliese, the Hydro One executive vice president. "There is certainly an opportunity to look at that." But, Pugliese noted, any changes to those rates would have to come from the Ontario Energy Board. "This is just the way the system works."

The family suspicious of their smart meter after an ‘earth-shattering’ bill

Jodi Nakluski — Stratford, Ont.

Average monthly bill : $200

Utility : Hydro One

Home : 1,100 sq-ft bungalow, three bedrooms

Two years later, Jodi Nakluski and her family of four still talk about a hydro bill: the one from winter 2014, where Hydro One charged them $800 for a single month. "That was earth-shattering to me," said the mother of two, who works as a bookkeeper. "I hate wasting money." She heats her home with wood, cooks almost exclusively on the barbecue outside, uses new appliances, energy-efficient bulbs and motion detectors that switch out lights when people leave a room. The bills have hovered at $200 since, but Nakluski said she can’t help being suspicious of her smart meter. "I probably called in just about every other month over the past few years to get them to change our meter because I believe it’s faulty." It hasn’t been replace, however.

For its part, Hydro One said if a customer questions the accuracy of their meter, they’ll ask Measurement Canada, a federal government agency, to investigate.