Biggar must make agreement public
Have provincial and federal governments been colluding to misinform public on plans around carbon pricing?
I am writing in response to Minister Paula Biggar’s letter of October 29, 2018 (Federal climate plan won’t impact rates).
In her letter, Minister Biggar (Minister of Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy) claims that because Maritime Electric negotiated five year rates with NB Power earlier this year, that P.E.I. electricity rates will not increase as a result of the federal government imposing its carbon pricing backstop plan in New Brunswick.
Although I believe that P.E.I.’s rates have been locked in for the next five years, I find it difficult to believe that NB Power actually signed a long-term contract that did not take into account the imminent arrival of carbon-pricing. At the time the contract was negotiated, the federal government was very clear on its expectations for a per tonne cost on carbon pollution.
Would NB Power be foolish enough to guarantee rates that assumed that the federal government would change its approach to addressing climate change? Would they be altruistic enough to willingly absorb any additional costs for P.E.I.?
Even more troubling, the day after the minister’s letter appeared in The Guardian, the federal government announced that it will not impose carbon pricing on Belledune Station, a coal plant in N.B., which will eliminate most of the carbon taxes NB Power is facing.
Did NB Power and Maritime Electric know as far back as June that an exemption would be applied, so they did not include the potential rate increase in the agreement?
Have the provincial and federal government been colluding to misinform the public on their plans around carbon pricing?
Or if NB Power and Maritime Electric did not know that an exemption was forthcoming, has P.E.I. agreed to pay inflated prices for our energy over the next five years?
With all these unanswered questions, Minister Biggar must make the agreement public, so we can all see what rates have been negotiated over the next five years, and whether the increases reflect what would be necessary to offset the additional cost of a carbon price.
Until we have an opportunity to openly examine the commitments that have been made, there is no way we can assess whether Islanders will be paying more for electricity over the next five years than is necessary.