If the rising cost of living and the economy become the ballot box question in a possible spring election, the minority Liberals want to make sure they're not fighting a campaign with a big hole in their pocket.
The provincial Tory and NDP opposition argue that ordinary families are feeling besieged that way and the PCs especially say it's time to sweep the 30-month minority government from office.
This week, the government plans to announce the phase-out of the electricity debt retirement charge at the end of next year ─ a move aimed at fighting public perception that the Liberals are behind the high power bills that are making life too expensive for the average family.
Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli is slated to make the announcement Wednesday, with a target date of Jan. 1, 2016, to eliminate the charge for residential consumers.
Electricity prices have caused a furor in the legislature in the past several weeks and both opposition parties have hammered the government almost daily over cost-of-living issues.
The Tories promise to cut power prices by scrapping the  Green Energy Act and the New Democrats pledge to restructure parts of the electricity sector and provide $100 rebate cheques to homeowners.
The Liberals say they won't raise taxes on the middle class, gasoline or hike the HST to pay for the $29 billion in new transit and infrastructure investments promised over the next decade.
On Monday, the government touted its plan to lower the cost of living for middle-income Ontarians, releasing its Pocketbook Initiatives Progress Report to say what it's doing to help people cope with rising costs and save for the future.
“I know that families across Ontario are facing more pressures than ever before," said Premier Kathleen Wynne. "We are working hard to help alleviate some of these everyday financial pressures, and help people build a more secure, prosperous future.”
Wynne said the coming May 1 budget will unveil details of a made-in-Ontario pension plan to supplement the CPP that the government has promised since December.
She also noted the government has done everything from raising the minimum wage to $11 an hour to strengthening consumer protection legislation for wireless phone contracts, real estate deals and other transactions.
Moreover, car insurance rates are on their way down by 15 per cent by August 2015, and generic drug prices are also being reduced.
As for the hydro debt retirement charge, the planned end to the levy will almost certainly lead to mounting Tory criticism that the Liberals mismanaged the policy and charged consumers nearly $4 billion more than it should have cost.
The charge was slapped on monthly electricity bills in 2002 to pay off $7.8 billion in stranded debt from the breakup of the old Ontario Hydro in the late 1990s.
Tory finance critic Vic Fedeli says the Liberals collected $11.6 billion from the charge but sill owe billions of dollars on the original stranded debt.

Province to announce end to debt retirement charge

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