The Chief Executive Officer of North Bay Hydro Todd Wilcox says he will respect the call of the Ontario Energy Minister regarding hydro electric companies voluntarily stopping winter disconnections of service.

He says in January for example they disconnected service 50 times with 40 of those customers re-connected the next day.

He points out people are being disconnected because they’re not paying their bills and that’s happening because of the high cost of those bills and that he puts the blame at the provinces door.

Wilcox says the electricity pricing is based on provincial policy decisions not any local issues.

He says electricity is unaffordable for many businesses and residents.

He says the request by the minister is addressing a symptom not the problem.

Wilcox says they give people ample time to pay their bills and disconnecting service is used as a last resort.

Wilcox says when a customer doesn’t pay up for service received another customer will have to make up the difference and that’s not fair to that customer who is paying their bill.