Higher hydro rates are hitting Ottawa residents and the charities they turn to in their time of need.
Fewer people are donating and now the Ottawa Food Bank is struggling to cover the basics.
"We've now paid our first bill that was over $4,000 for a two-month period," says the charity's director Peter Tilley.
Tilley says those costs are unprecedented, and predicts their hydro bill will soar 25 to 30 per cent over the next few months.
Add that to rising fuel costs and Tilley says his organization and others could soon face some tough choices.
The Ottawa Mission has hired an outside company to try and help them control their hydro usage.
So far, officials at the Mission say the advice is working. But they still say if things don't change programs could get cut.
"We have a lot of money in programming -- probably at least $2-million -- we would certainly look at what we have and see what we could do without," says the Mission's director Diane Morrison.
Morrision says, like other charities, they get a GST rebate and is encouraging the Ontario government to do the same when it comes to the HST.
"Give them a break because we're really fulfilling a need in the community that no one else is," says Morrison.
With a report from CTV's Catherine Lathem
