Ontario’s Liberal government is trying to brush aside auditor general Bonnie Lysyk’s latest concern about “bogus” accounting standards, this time over the government’s “Fair Hydro Plan” that reduced electricity rates by 25 per cent.

The criticisms followed a special audit of the province’s Independent Electricity System Operator in which Lysyk — who first issued a red flag last October — determined the accounting methods lowball the cost of the rate relief program to taxpayers by as much as $1.3 billion, potentially understating the size of a provincial deficit.

But Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault said Monday the government has opinions from major consulting firms such as KPMG, Deloitte and Ernst & Young that the “rate-regulated” accounting practices are approved for the public sector.

“We go with what we’re being told by those in the field,” he told reporters after MPP Vic Fedeli, leader of the Progressive Conservatives in the Legislature, raised the issue in question period.

“The same accounting process is used by Toronto Hydro, as well as it’s used in Alberta, New England, New York, Minnesota and Texas.”

Fedeli said Lysyk’s accusation in a legislative committee meeting last week that the government can use the accounting method to “falsely claim” its budget numbers are better than they truly are heading into the June 7 provincial election raises important questions of credibility.

“She highlights the fact that the financial and accounting structure was designed to avoid reporting the unfair hydro scheme’s costs,” added Fedeli, whose party has agreed to keep the Liberal hydro rate cut plan intact in its now-defunct People’s Guarantee election platform axed after Patrick Brown was ousted as leader in favour of new PC boss Doug Ford.

“These numbers can’t be trusted. This government can’t be trusted.”

Last October, Lysyk signalled the hydro rate relief scheme, in which billions in recent improvements to the electricity system are being amortized over 30 years through bigger loans, could cost an extra $4 billion in interest costs, lifting the final tally to $39.4 billion.

Thibeault said the government has been “transparent” about the accounting methods being used all along.

“We disagree (with Lysyk) on the accounting standards,” said Terry Young, spokesman for the IESO, which is the provincial agency tasked with meeting Ontario’s day-to-day electricity needs.

“We have co-operated fully with her.”

Lysyk has also taken issue with the government’s accounting for its share of assets from the teachers’ and public servants’ pension plans. A government-appointed panel of experts sided with Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals on their interpretation of allowing the money to be counted toward the province’s bottom line.

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