The province’s opposition parties say Albertans should not be fooled into thinking a new electricity rate cap announced by the NDP government is going to save them money.
The Rachel Notley government introduced Bill 16 in the legislature Tuesday, saying it will protect customers from major price spikes.
But, Wildrose Shadow Electricity & Renewables Minister Don MacIntyre called it the latest failure involving the government’s changes to the power market.
“This bill, in my opinion is an admission that retail rates will more than double within the next four years due to this reckless NDP policy on the electricity file,” MacIntyre said.
The government says the four-year cap of 6.8 cents per kilowatt hour is expected to be in place by June 1.
The cap would cost about $10 million a month for every cent the electricity rate is above the cap. The added cost would be covered by revenue from the Alberta carbon tax.
“This Bill aims to solve a problem that the NDP itself created,” said Rick Fraser, Progressive Conservative Energy Critic and MLA for Calgary-South East.
“Policies like the carbon tax, the accelerated coal phase-out and the PPA debacle have created massive uncertainty in Alberta’s electricity market. Now, the NDP are attempting to use taxpayer dollars to cover up the negative consequences of their actions, all while falsely claiming to protect consumers.”
Both MacIntyre and Fraser said Albertans said this cap will not save Albertans money.
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“Whether families pay through increases to their electricity bills or through increases to their taxes, Albertans will still wind up footing the bill for this NDP incompetence,” Fraser said.
Provincial electricity rates averaged about 3.9 cents per kilowatt hour between April 2016 and April 2017, but have spiked to as high as 15.3 cents per kilowatt hour in the past six years.
The government says about 60 per cent of consumers pay market rates, while others are on fixed-price contracts that have averaged 6.1 cents over the past year.
With files from The Canadian Press
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