Our region’s MPP says he wants to make it easier for new homes in our region to be connected to natural gas lines.
We spoke with Steve Clark, the MPP for Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands-Rideau Lakes, about his priorities for the Ontario legislature’s spring session, which began on Tuesday.
He says he expects one of his colleagues, Bay of Quinte MPP Todd Smith, to bring forward a bill that would address a recent decision from the Ontario Energy Board.
The OEB decided in December to end Enbridge Gas’s current 40-year “amortization period” program, letting homeowners pay gradually to have their home connected to gas lines.
“We have a number of areas in my riding that have made requests under the Natural Gas Expansion program, including a number in North Grenville, that want to have natural gas,” Clark says. “The decision by [the OEB] would stop those areas from getting natural gas.”
“It would lead to all of those costs being front ended on new homes, which would be devastating,” he continues. “It would stop new home construction, and it would really send the wrong message to those type of homeowners, that want to have natural gas, that don’t want to heat their homes with propane.”
Clark says he hopes the bill is brought forward this week so he can back it, for the sake of “the many, many people in the riding” who want to heat their homes with natural gas.