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It would also shift the cost of energy conservation programs from hydro customers to the tax base. Ford added that he would place a moratorium on new energy contracts and renegotiate existing deals where possible.

The plan comes as Ford continues to bemoan the fact the governing Liberals will borrow billions to lower hydro rates by 25 per cent in the short term. But he said their plan will remain in place, at least initially, if he wins this spring.

“We’re going to be reviewing that,” Ford said of the Liberals’ Fair Hydro Plan. “That was, as far as I’m concerned, the wrong thing to do, borrowing down the future and the only people who are going to pay for it is our children, our great-grandchildren.”

The Liberals’ hydro plan came after bills in the province roughly doubled in the last decade, and widespread anger helped send Premier Kathleen Wynne’s approval ratings to record lows.

The plan lowers time-of-use rates by removing from bills a portion of the global adjustment — a charge consumers pay for above-market rates to power producers — for the next 10 years.

In the meantime, producers will continue being paid the same, so Ontario Power Generation has been tapped to oversee the debt used to pay that difference through a new entity called OPG Trust.

That financing structure will cost an extra $4 billion, according to both the province’s auditor and the financial accountability officer. The Liberals have said the financing will cost closer to $2 billion.