Manitoba Hydro will spend $700,000 over the next three months on advertisements backing its battle to build new power generating stations and other infrastructure, and raise rates to pay for them.
The television ads began airing Monday; print and internet ads are expected to follow.
“I think we need to have a conversation with Manitobans about why the plan we are proposing is the best going forward and remind them of where we’ve been in the past and the fact that the investment that was made 50 years ago really paid off and we hope to replicate that again this time around,” Hydro spokesman Glen Schneider told Global News Monday.
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The TV ad shows one Hydro engineer speaking of the success of the utility’s building boom in the 1960’s, and shows archival footage of dams being built. A younger engineer then says, “But the demand for clean energy is still growing. So we need to build new generating stations.”
Hydro has a $20 billion plan to build its new Keeyask and Conawapa generating stations and other infrastructure. But the Public Utilities Board has already sounded the alarm that costs could be much higher, revenue from electricity sales to the US could be much lower than hoped, and Manitoba consumers could be facing huge rate hikes as a result.
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Hydro wants to raise rates 3.5% effective April 1st and anticipates hikes of about 4% a year for the next decade. Hearings into the increases at the Public Utilities Board wrapped up last month and the board has yet to make a decision. But some groups have already made up their minds. The rate hikes have been opposed by the Consumers’ Association and the Taxpayers Federation.
“We need a big time out to talk about this plan because it’s a huge huge risk. $20 billion, It’s the biggest decision facing Manitobans right now and it shouldn’t be left up to a propaganda campaign,” says Colin Craig of the Taxpayers Federation.
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