A lot of the discussion so far has assumed urban living. Just a couple of comments. I am sure many who have posted on the rural living thread would echo these.
Electricity - prices vary over the province. I am not in a city, I am billed rural low density, and I pay a lot for hydro. See parts of my bill below. I'm retired, home all day most days, so my peak and shoulder use are higher than if I were still working. I feel for a rural SAHM with pre-schoolers or school-age kids, she is home, they are home, there are meals to cook and baths to give and all the things that use electricity.
Plus re heating, this has been an easy winter overall, not like last year. I heat with oil - the alternative is propane (not gas, no gas available here, that takes pipes) and propane is not as high-energy as gas. Wood? Wood is polluting too, just not a fossil fuel. There are houses and farm houses around here with wood hot water heating, the boiler is in a separate building. That means going outside when it is super cold or really icy (like yesterday) to stoke the fire. Around here there are lots of old homes, so there are limits to how efficient they can be made without spending huge amounts on insulation and windows and so on. There were some government grants, not right now.
Carbon tax - depends on who is talking. I read the Green Party platform (federal) a few years ago and they wanted it to be revenue neutral, lower taxes in other areas. Let's face it, most consumption taxes are partly policy, look at the sin tax on alcohol and cigarettes. Of course people take their sins seriously, we saw prohibition in the US and we have seen cigarette smuggling much more recently in Canada, so it is a balancing act - tax enough that people cut down consumption of things that TPTB think are bad for them but are legal, and not so high that smuggling becomes really rewarding.
Anyway, just my musings.
in Ontario people already have the highest electricity rates in North America due to a mismanaged public system
Point of Delivery: 10043160
Compare the electricity Number Average Daily Electricity Use (kWh) Average electricity you
you are using # of days on-Peak Mid-Peak Off-Peak used per day (kWh)
Jan 13, 2016 - Feb 11, 2016 29 3 2 8 13
Dec 11, 2015 - Jan 13, 2016 33 3 3 11 18
Nov 13, 2015 - Dec 11, 2015 28 3 2 8 14
Oct 15, 2015 - Nov 13, 2015 29 3 3 9 15
Sep 15, 2015 - Oct 15, 2015 30 3 3 10 16
Aug 14, 2015 - Sep 15, 2015 32 2 3 32 38
Jan 14, 2015 - Feb 12, 2015 29 3 2 9 14
Electricity: On-Peak: 94.3650 kWh @ 17.5000¢ $16.51
Electricity: Mid-Peak: 67.7688 kWh @ 12.8000¢ $8.67
Electricity: Off-Peak: 225.3654 kWh @ 8.3000¢ $18.71
Delivery $65.02
Regulatory Charges $2.82
Debt Retirement Charge++ $0.00
HST (87086-5821-RT0001) $14.52
Total of your electricity charges $126.25
So actual electricity = $43.89, or about 35% of my total bill.