By Mabell, Dave on October 24, 2014.

Dave Mabell

Lethbridge Herald

[email protected]

Albertans are being gouged by their electrical system, and it’s their politicians’ fault.

That’s the verdict from one politician, who’s become its vocal critic.

The made-in-Alberta pricing system, MLA Joe Anglin says, guarantees Alberta’s power generators the highest possible price. And while Alberta consumers are forced to pay more and more, he told a Lethbridge audience, British Columbia residents are benefitting from our misfortune.

Meanwhile, Alberta consumers are picking up the bill for a deliberately overbuilt transmission network, Anglin told a session of the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs. No wonder American billionaire Warren Buffett wants a part of the action.

“There are so many questions, and so few answers,” Anglin said, yet the Conservative government is taking no steps to halt the sale of the province’s largest transmission network to one of Buffett’s companies. In every other jurisdiction, the province owns or controls its transmission lines.

Southern Albertans should not believe assurances that the high-capacity loop now being built here is just for local customers, he maintained.

“They’re reinforcing it to export a significant amount of power.”

Buffett’s empire includes power facilities in Montana, Anglin claimed. Once it controls most of the Alberta network, it will be able to maximize profits by sending Alberta power south – or importing it when the price is right.

Within Alberta’s layers of utility regulation bureaucracies, he said, there are no provisions to control sales across the border.

“That’s a problem with multi-national companies.”

Anglin, the Wildrose MLA for the Rocky Mountain House area, said Alberta residents are already paying – but British Columbians are winning – from the Alberta bureaucracy’s inability to control interprovincial sales. Overnight, he said, publicly owned BC Hydro buys excess Alberta power sent through the Crowsnest Pass, for about three cents per kilowatt hour.

That allows the B.C. utility to conserve water stored behind its hydro dams – while selling Alberta power to American utilities. During peak daytime hours, he explained, BC Hydro sells power to the Alberta grid for six cents per KWH.

“BC Hydro is ‘gaming’ the system in Alberta.”

A questioner from Saskatchewan reminded Anglin that province’s public utility generates the power, carries it to Saskatchewan communities and retails it to residents and businesses – then pays a dividend to the taxpayers. The Alberta system is “mind boggling.”

The jury is still out whether Alberta consumers find any advantages in their system, Anglin said. But the new premier must address some of its greatest weaknesses.

One of those, he said, is the auction-like method by which power generators set their prices through the day. It’s a little like a cattle auction, he said, where every buyer is forced to pay the price obtained by the best animal in the ring.

For Alberta’s longtime power producers, “It’s a licence to print money.”

The current system, brought in during Ralph Klein’s days as premier, was copied from some American jurisdictions, Anglin said. But many have abandoned “deregulation since then.

The reason Albertans are still forced to pay and pay, is that elected officials are unable or unwilling to face the big questions. Albertans can only hope they will, he added.

“When they politicized the system, they made a mess of it.”

By Simmons, Garrett on October 24, 2014.

Garrett Simmons

LETHBRIDGE HERALD

[email protected]

Wednesday was a day no one in Ottawa will soon forget.

For southern Alberta politicians, it represented a nerve-wracking 10 hours, as Members of Parliament were on lockdown from 10 a.m. to just before 8 p.m.

Medicine Hat MP LaVar Payne was one of those MPs, as those gathered in the Caucus Room for a meeting were made acutely aware early in the morning something was very wrong.

“There was a lot of gun fire,” said Payne about the exchange of shots which took place just feet from where the MPs were meeting. “It was clear the House was under attack but we had no idea who it was or how many of them there were. That certainly created a stir in the Caucus.”

Security officials were quick to react, as the doors were quickly locked and the MPs, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, were under immediate lockdown.

“It sounded like a war zone, actually, because there were so many shots fired,” said Payne. “It was rather scary, to say the least.”

The situation was very tense, said Payne, who added MPs were given updates throughout the process. But it was one particular update which brought the politicians to their feet.

“The sergeant at arms spoke to us and told us the terrorist was dead,” said Payne, who added that elicited cheers from his colleagues.

Those cheers continued Thursday morning, as Kevin Vickers was recognized by politicians with a rousing standing ovation.

“It was really a nice moment, where we put our political differences aside. I’ve never felt Parliament so united.” said Lethbridge MP Jim Hillyer, who added he was a few minutes late Wednesday, helping his son complete some homework, which kept him from arriving at Parliament Hill.

It was a sharp contrast from Wednesday, when MPs had little to do but wait, as security officials scoured Parliament Hill and searched every room and closet, according to Payne, who added those on lockdown in the Caucus Room had little communication with the outside world as cellphone service was spotty in downtown Ottawa.

“It was an experience hopefully no one has to experience again,” said Payne.

But despite Wednesday’s attack, it was business as usual, for the most part, in the nation’s capital Thursday, as MPs got back to work.

“It’s pretty heavy security at this point in time,” said Payne of the situation Thursday morning. “What we saw in the House this morning is we’re not going to be detered from sitting in this House and governing the country.”

Payne added politicians of all stripes are coming together and supporting one another.

“Our folks are pretty resilient so that’s nice to see. We’re all coming together as Parliamentarians.”

Hillyer echoed those sentiments, adding it was important for the business of government to continue. As Harper addressed the MPs after his television appearance, the Lethbridge MP said the exhausted group of politicians were united in their resolve.

“I was very impressed at the optimism, buoyancy and resiliency of everyone, and that continued this morning,” said Hillyer, who added he never felt more proud singing the national anthem, as MPs belted out O Canada Thursday.

Hillyer said while politicians acknowledge the devastating impact Wednesday’s event have had on the family of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, Ottawa simply had to attempt to return to some normalcy on Thursday to show our country’s strength and resiliency, and prove the terrorist could not stand in the way of democracy.

“He was committing an act of terrorism with the goal to frighten and stop our way of doing things,” said Hillyer, in reference to the slain shooter, Michael Joseph Paul Zehaf Bibeau.

The MP added things will change in Ottawa as a result of Wednesday’s shootings, though he cautioned there is a danger in overreacting.

“I hope we don’t go into panic mode and say, ‘What are we going to do, what are we going to do,’ and change too radically how things are in Canada and Ottawa in particular,” said Hillyer, who added we can’t live in a time of heightened fear and paranoia, too scared to live and breathe. “I hope we don’t swing the pendulum too far the other way.”

http://www.strathcona.ca/files/files/altalink_south_and_west_edmonton_transmission_development_-_2013.pdf

By Lethbridge Herald Opinon on October 8, 2014.

We once had a slogan in this province – The Alberta Advantage.

It was a hallmark of the Ralph Klein era, when seemingly nothing could go wrong for Alberta. The premier, who came into power in 1992, made austerity a trend long before it would catch on decades later in the European Union, as cuts to spending and the creation of a business-friendly environment, partly through corporate tax cuts, made our province the envy of everyone else in Canada.

As oil and gas revenues skyrocketed, and billion-dollar surplus budgets were the norm, large companies, and a substantial amount of newcomers, made their way to Alberta to bask in the glow of success. The province was a juggernaut and not only were corporations raking in solid profits, but everyday, average workers were also making strides.

On both of those fronts, that momentum has stalled. Alberta has not been able to balance the budget in recent years and while a select few corporate entities have been able to thrive, the business community is feeling the squeeze, just like regular Albertans.

Coverage from Monday’s finance committee meeting paints that picture on a few fronts, as “rising costs” is a common theme. Council learned homeowners and businesses will be hit with more electricity rate increases, with more substantial increases on the way. Alberta’s transmission access fees could be hiked by 10 per cent each year in the near future, a direct result of the province’s steadfast support for new high-capacity power lines linking Calgary and Edmonton.

Already, power users are saddled with charges and fees which make actual power consumption a small percentage of an actual bill. Local access fees, administration fees, rate riders and transmission charges are factored in to a bill the government seems powerless to help control. It has left homeowners with yet another expense which is climbing out of control and business owners questioning their long-term futures in the province.

Electricity rates are only part of the equation as to why Alberta’s economy is not as red hot as it once was. Truth be told, the type of roll the province was on during part of the Klein years really was not sustainable in the long term. Boom-and-bust cycles are all too common in Alberta, and the boom helped skew the equation for many long-time residents and newcomers alike.

But what it did do was help give a handful of large corporations a very significant leg up, which still exists today, to the detriment of many. Citizens and businesses are paying the collective price of deregulation, which has shifted the balance of power in this province, literally and figuratively, as Albertans continue to be on the hook for expensive projects, like the high capacity power lines, which amount to little more than corporate welfare.

There was a time when the Alberta Advantage meant something to a very large portion of the population. Today, even though the motto has been scrapped, it still rings true for a very select few.

Comment on this editorial online at http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/opinions/.

The Canadian Press Oct 5, 2014 03:22:07 PM

Lethbridge Herald

October 6, 2014

ROAST: To GregWeadick for your column showing your glowing support for Premier Prentice as he dismantles many of the policies and programs queen Redford initiated… even though you were right there in lockstep with Redford when she was flying around the province, or the world, introducing those policies.