This latest electricity bill has me in a bit of a shocked state.
Not the price of electricity, not the amount I currently owe. Nope, what has me a wee bit peeved is that apparently come May 1 it will cost $1 to get a paper bill mailed to my address.
Now before I get carried away with these words I seem to love writing, it is not the loonie I am peeved about, nope, it is the principle at the heart of this.
Not everyone is online at home. Not everyone has full access using new computers and having printers. Not everyone can afford to pay for internet, or keep up with the latest technology. I happen to be one of the many I have been reading, who for whatever reasons, have unexpected expenses.
I do keep up with paying my power bill. I collect a disability assistance from the province. Some folks in my situation call it a pension, it is not, as most pension plans are indexed to inflation, this assistance we get is not indexed, stays the same for years, and with everything constantly rising in price, we have to continually balance budgets. Not so good for mental health. I digress, while I am fortunate enough to be able to work at times and can take advantage of having that extra income, not deducted (thanks to the government for that), I still cannot afford to pay a monthly cost just to go online at home and then get my power bill emailed to me, or whatever that jazz is all about.
Seriously, the extra $1 to have the computer at city hall to mail me the power bill each month (I doubt there is someone at city hall licking all them envelopes and folding all them inserts) is just another tiny aspect of everything.
Then considering the lack of mail Canada Post has to deal with in the economic sense. This will be yet another loss of mail for them to deliver. In this day and age, some are without, and getting loonied and toonied to financial obscurity (the old nickel and dimed) with ever increasing increments.
Brian Strong
Penticton