It was a good year to be the boss at Hydro One.

Chief executive officer Mayo Schmidt got a $1.7-million raise, lifting his total compensation for 2017 to $6.2 million at the former Crown corporation partially privatized by Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government two years ago.

With the June 7 provincial election just 10 weeks away, opposition parties jumped on the issue Thursday as Hydro One released compensation details for its top five executive just hours before the Easter long weekend began.

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“All that is while families still have to stay at home and choose whether to heat or eat because of their hydro rates,” said Progressive Conservative MPP Vic Fedeli. “Our message from Doug Ford and the PC party is that relief is on the way.”

Schmidt’s package including almost $1.1 million in base salary — which works out to $20,808 a week — plus $3.5 million in shares, and $1.45 million in incentive pay.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called the massive raise “a slap in the face to the hard-working Ontario families being gouged on their hydro bills” and blamed the sale of about half the province’s shares in Hydro One.

“The CEO’s $6.2-million paycheque is over eight times what the CEO made when Hydro One was owned by the people of Ontario — part of more than $14 million just the top five executives take home.”

Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault acknowledged the pay levels have become a lightning rod, but said 80 per cent of the compensation is granted “only if aggressive performance targets are met” and noted $114 million in “productivity savings” to mitigate hydro bills have been found since privatization two years ago.

“We recognize that executive salaries are high compared to the vast majority of Ontario salaries, and we remain committed to Hydro One’s regulation, accountability and transparency,” Thibeault said in a statement.

“That said, Hydro One is now a publicly traded company, not a government entity, and this means it is subject to different oversight and disclosure rules. We remain confident in the role of the independent Ontario Energy Board, to regulate Hydro One’s rates and protect the interests of Ontarians.”

Hydro One, which had almost $6 billion in revenues last year, said its executive salaries account for seven cents on a customer’s monthly bill, as was the case before privatization, and less than two cents of that is for Schmidt.

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Opposition parties are trying to keep concerns about hydro bills alive after the government — facing a public outcry about skyrocketing electricity costs, particularly in rural areas — cut residential rates 25 per cent a year ago by borrowing billions to amortize the costs of system improvements over a longer period of time.

The outcry over Hydro One follows the release of last week’s “sunshine list” of public sector workers earning more than $100,000. It was led by Ontario Power Generation chief executive Jeffrey Lyash, at $1.55 million.

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