Winnipeggers face growing struggles paying energy bills in city's poorest communities: survey

CBC

15 hours ago

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Residents in some of Winnipeg's poorest neighbourhoods are struggling to pay their energy bills without assistance, a new survey shows. And as fears of climate change grow, some worry those bills will only get more unaffordable.
On Monday, the Manitoba Eco Network released results from their survey, Cold Weather, Hot Weather, and Your Hydro Bills, which was created to learn more about people's experiences trying to cover their energy costs.
The survey looks to better understand how people living in the Spence, West Broadway and West End neighbourhoods prioritize and afford energy bills, and to hear about how people are dealing with temperatures in their home "while living in a changing climate."
The organization said the neighbourhoods surveyed were chosen because they are all considered higher poverty areas.
According to survey results, 38 per cent of surveyed homeowners and 51 per cent of renters have had to choose between paying their energy bills and other costs of living.
Nearly half (49 per cent) of the 142 respondents had accessed some form of government or corporate assistance related to their household's energy costs within the last five years.
Patrick Michalishyn, who has lived in his West End house for eight years, said every year he faces a significant increase in his energy bills.
"All my bills, my water bill, the hydro bill, internet, everything is just getting more and more expensive," Michalishyn said.
"I'm self-employed and so it's really been noticeable. I've cut down on keeping my air conditioning on — it's mostly off until it hits plus-26 [Celsius] in the house."
Michalishyn said he sometimes pays his energy bills in instalments, or not until a disconnection notice comes.
"Every time I get my bills I look at how much my expenditures are a month just on living and maintaining a house," he said.
Manitoba Eco-Network projects manager Sorsha Moore-Peters said the survey results are concerning.
"What we heard from people here is that they are struggling to pay their energy bills," she said. "They're worried about their health during hot weather, they're worried about accessibility to cooling centres like public libraries or to splash pads, and people ultimately are just worried about how this change in temperature is going to affect them and their home going forward."
The survey also showed that over 85 per cent of respondents had experienced some form of negative impacts to their household as a result of extreme outdoor temperatures, and 18 per cent experienced worsened symptoms of a chronic illness and/or disability as a result of extreme outdoor temperatures.
More than 17 per cent felt sick more frequently, while 13 per cent were worried about their overall health and safety as a result of the temperature.
Respondents noted effects to their health, including struggling to concentrate, feeling fatigued and being less active, having heightened emotional responses because of how the temperature made them feel, avoiding having guests over or even avoiding going home themselves.
Moore-Peters said the survey also shows there are concerns about hydro bills rising even further due to climate change, and more extreme weather patterns.
"Right now the city of Winnipeg sits at around 57 extreme temperature days in summer during the year, but with those emissions levels increasing with the more carbon being released, those days are gonna go up," she said.
The survey comes with several recommendations, including investing in more locations and longer hours for public spaces such as libraries, recreational facilities, pools, splash pads, and reviewing and updating safety and accessibility policies at cooling centres such as libraries and recreational facilities.
It also recommends further incentive programs to help homeowners and landlords improve the energy efficiency of buildings, particularly older buildings.