Small business owners are taking extreme measures just to keep the lights on.
Dave Purdon is facing a hydro bill of more than $1,700 and says he’s down to his only option. He slashed prices by 50 per cent last week at Muskoka Meats to try to make enough money to pay the bill.
“I was tight for cash and I just thought I could turn some of my inventory into cash,” Purdon says. “A lot of people when they got the bill and if it came to $80, they'd give me a hundred.”
With the goodwill of his customers he was able to reach his goal, but he says hydro costs are still an out of control expense.
“It's the one that keeps going up and up.”
One solution Purdon is contemplating is removing one of the three freezers out of his store to save on his hydro costs. However, that brings up another issue: less space to sell his products.
It's a challenge many other businesses are dealing with as well.
“We've removed the large freezers that we have here to merchandise stuff and ended up having to install household freezers because we couldn't afford it,” says Lawrence Vindum, a Barrie butcher.
Vindum has tried everything to reduce his bills. While he's seen short-term savings, he says the bills are still rising and he's out of options.
“I had chest pains when I opened up the bill and I couldn't sleep for a few days while I tried to scrap the money together to pay it.”
The provincial government says relief is on the way. The promise to shave 8 per cent from hydro bills takes effect on this month’s bill.
But Purdon says it won't be enough.
“We're struggling, we're struggling like crazy.”
