N.L. Liberals, NDP say government 15% electricity rebate should take effect now

Premier Tony Wakeham announced a 15% electricity rebate today, offering residents relief on their power bills going into the cold winter months. But the province's Liberal Party and NDP say the measures come too late and don't go far enough. Very confused and disappointed as to why they're doing it, why they say they're doing it now. They said it back in August that they'd do it when a Churchill Falls deal was finalized. The Premier said today that this was able to be done back in August. and now he's saying it's ready to go today, but he's not going to do it until January. Why can't he do it now? The province's rebate will only cover a portion of residents' bills each month. The rebate is applied to the first 2,000 kilowatt hours of electricity consumption. Hogan said if the Liberals were still in power, his government would have taken it a step further and applied the 15% to residents' total bills. There could be more done. As I said, the whole 15% could have been on each and every bill. Hogan said he's heard from residents who are struggling with cost of living and feels it's only getting worse. He thinks the government has not been clear on their plan to make life more affordable. NDP leader Jim Dinn says the rebate could have been brought in long ago. His party has put forward motions in the past to see HST removed from heating bills and says both the PCs and liberals shot it down. A few days before the House of Assembly opened, they decided they were going to accelerate the measure to help people. A measure that they didn't think was a good measure. Dinn also thinks if this is a measure Wakeham wants to introduce, he shouldn't wait until January to do it. Over the next few months, he says it's only going to get colder, and people need the relief now rather than later. So by the time January comes, people have probably already blown their budget or are already being stressed by it. Cameron Kilfoy, CBC News, St. John's.