To the Editor

I read with great interest the full page letter from Mayo Schmidt president and CEO of Hydro One published in the Jan. 17 edition of the Echo .

Mr. Schmidt goes to great lengths to assure us that Hydro One is doing all they can to address the high cost of energy in Ontario. Thank goodness!

So it was also with great interest that I googled Mr. Schmidt and discovered an article in The Globe and Mail that discussed his annual salary – the headline read “Hydro One CEO’s pay of $4 million with bonus approaches top end.”

The article went on to say the following: “Hydro One will pay its CEO a base salary of $850000 for next year with a potential $765000 in short-term compensation and a long-term incentive of as much as $2.39 million the filing said. The chief financial officer will get a base salary of $500000 and total direct compensation of as much as $1.5 million. CEOs of Canadian power companies make a median $3.37 million in annual total reported compensation.”

Stats Can shows that the average salary of a person living in Ontario and paying these enormous hydro bills is $50589. The 2011 census shows that the average salary of a person living in Haliburton County is $35510 well below the provincial average. How on earth could Mr. Schmidt even begin to comprehend how difficult it is for the average person to pay their hydro bill when he makes as much as $4 million a year!

Perhaps the best place to start saving consumers’ money is to address these absolutely absurd salaries paid to Hydro One executives!

Kim Stamp

Haliburton