Dear Editor;
Alberta is tinkering once again with its deregulated electricity market without any public debate. The Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) is now suggesting that legislation governing Alberta’s deregulated electrical system may have to be amended for any changes to occur.
When deregulation was first imposed on Albertans, electricity prices immediately spiked (tripled) as consumers were gouged due to poorly conceived legislation, which by the way was enacted without any public debate. After investigating the price spike the Canadian Competition Bureau concluded, there was no evidence of any wrongdoing.
Ironically, on June 25, 2003 the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) found that Canadian firms Powerex Corp, TransAlta Energy Marketing (U.S.) Inc., and TransCanada Energy, Ltd. “through partnership, alliance or other arrangements appear to have jointly engaged in market manipulation schemes that had profound adverse impacts on market outcomes.”
In 2005 Washington State officials uncovered evidence in the form of taped conversations, between Enron and TransAlta, that incriminated a number of companies in Alberta of electricity price gouging. CBC Radio fired talk show host Don Hill for playing the tapes on air.
Did TransAlta willingly and actively participate in trading with Enron across regulatory and national boundaries in such a way that Albertans were price gouged? We don’t know the answer to that question. But we do know TransAlta Corporation revenues increased 89 per cent in three months and then rocketed to a whopping 133 per cent increase in six months, in 2001.
Fast forward to today and we find the Alberta provincial government needs to tinker with its legislation, because new generation is not moving forward in a timely manner to meet future provincial requirements. The needs of Albertans are clear, we require proper planning to locate generation where and when it is needed. TransCanada CEO Hal Kvisle tells us a different story. He says an absence of transmission lines to the United States would lead to an oversupplied electricity market and plummeting electricity prices in Alberta.
The conundrum faced by our government is that while they have catered to the wants and needs of companies such as TransAlta and TransCanada, they have neglected and/or ignored the needs of all Albertans.
This government has shown little competence in dealing with deregulation. In the last three years this government has been caught spying, (listening in on phone conversations) on citizens in an effort to force the public to pay for building export electricity transmission line to the US so we can -- according to Hal Kvisle -- pay higher prices for our electricity. When this scheme ran into trouble our government had to pass major legislation [Bill 46] at 3 a.m. to avoid public scrutiny and debate.
Deregulation of electricity is a failure. The history of electricity deregulation in Alberta is pathetically strewn with one allegation of illegalities after another, all at the expense of the Alberta ratepayer. We need to do more than just plan for the future needs of electricity generation in Alberta; we need to start governing Alberta for Albertans.
Joe Anglin
Rimbey