Ford announces hydro rate cut, $200 grant for parents of high school students

December 22, 2020Julia Mastroianni and NOW Staff

Ontario Premier Doug Ford at a press conference on November 2

Update (2:13 pm): This story has been updated with information about the hydro rate cut and one-time grant for parents of high school students.

The Ontario government will fix hydro rates at off-peak rates and offer parents of high school students a one-time payment of $200.

During press briefing a Queen’s Park on Tuesday, Premier Doug Ford said a discounted off-peak rate of 8.5 cents per kilowatt hour – for both time of use and tiered customers – will take effect on January 1.

“It’s just going to show up on your next bill,” Ford said.

The rate cut will last 28 days and apply to residents, farms and businesses. The province introduced a similar measure during the first wave last spring.

The hydro relief is one of two measures Ford announced following the government’s decision to move the entire province into lockdown on Boxing Day.

Toronto and Peel Region are already in lockdown, but the new measures will overrule the colour-coded COVID-19 response framework and force a greater number of retail stores, as well as ski hills, to shut.

The lockdown will also reduce customer capacity at supermarkets, box stores and pharmacies.

Both elementary and post-secondary schools will switch to remote learning on January 4.

The government is making parents of high school students aged 13 through grade 12 eligible for a one-time payment of $200 per student. The payment is meant to help parents cover expenses such as laptops and school supplies.

Under the province-wide lockdown plan, high schoolers will return to in-person learning on January 11 in Northern Ontario and on January 25 in Southern Ontario.

Public, private and home-schooled students are eligible. Applications open on January 11.

The deadline to apply for previously announced payments for parents with children or youth 12 or under or children and youth aged 21 or under with special needs, is being extended to February 8.

Ontario COVID-19 hospitalizations pass 1,000 mark

Ontario reported 2,202 new COVID-19 cases and 21 new deaths on December 22

The province detected 2,123 new cases on Monday, 2,316 on Sunday and 2,357 on Saturday. The seven-day rolling average is currently at 2,266.

Four regions make up almost 70 per cent of all new cases, with 636 new cases in Toronto, 504 in Peel, 218 in York Region and 172 in Windsor-Essex County.

So far, there have been 3,409 vaccines administered in Ontario since the province received its first shipment on December 15. In the past day, 422 vaccines were administered.

There are 19,300 active cases in Ontario as of Tuesday. Hospitalizations in the province have surged past the 1,000 mark, reaching 1,005 on December 22. That’s the highest number of hospitalized patients due to COVID-19 the province has seen since May 14.

There are 272 patients in intensive care, a provincial record high for the second consecutive day, with 171 of those patients on ventilators.

The province completed 45,265 tests in the past 24 hours, marking a 4.9 per cent positivity rate.

Of the 21 deaths reported today, 11 were among long-term care residents. There have been 196 deaths over the past week.

On Monday afternoon, Toronto Public Health reported a single-day increase of 646 new cases, bringing the city’s total to 54,009. There are 300 people hospitalized in Toronto, including an 11 year old.

Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health Eileen de Villa said during press briefing at city hall that a 30-year-old was among the COVID patients who died since Sunday.

To date, there have been 160,255 total COVID-19 cases in Ontario, including 136,767 resolved – up 1,900 from the day before. A total of 4,188 people have died.