Turning up the heat

They were back again Friday — two dozen or so protesters outside the offices of the Public Utilities Board (PUB), worried about the impact on ordinary Newfoundlanders when power rate increases kick in to pay for the Muskrat Falls project.

In some ways, the protest was symbolic: while the PUB is reviewing the latest rate increase application from Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, the hearing wasn’t even sitting on Friday.

In another way, though, the protest might be a sign of how things are heating up.

In the last few weeks, there’s been plenty of discussion about how the government and Hydro can keep a series of upcoming rate increases from crushing customers. Ches Crosbie, the Progressive Conservative leader, has spoken out about the provincial government’s apparent lack of a plan to mitigate the rate increases. The province’s own seniors’ advocate also stepped into the fray, asking how seniors could be expected to handle the increases.

And the protesters aren’t the only ones with questions.

Thursday, the Public Utilities Board gave Hydro officials some new questions about their current request for a rate increase, and didn’t offer up much time to answer them.

Early last week, Telegram reporters and editors puzzled over new documents filed by Hydro, trying to establish what Hydro’s latest rate request was actually asking for.

Turns out, we weren’t alone in our mystification. The board sent Hydro a blunt letter about the utility’s latest rate application, and gave the company only until Monday to comply with a request to outline just what it’s actually suggesting that customers pay.

“To ensure that there is clarity with respect to the rates which Hydro proposes in its 2017 General Rate Application, the Board asks that Hydro file by July 30, 2018 a clear statement as to the rates that it proposes be implemented for each customer class, effective January 1, 2019. In particular the Board requires that Hydro clarify whether it proposes the implementation of a rate stability rider, and if so, what is Hydro’s proposal?” the PUB wrote.

The PUB has also required, “in light of the significant changes that have been made throughout this proceeding and the supplemental evidence filed,” that Hydro update an entire section of its rate application. The PUB wants that work delivered pronto — in their hands by next Thursday.

The message?

Perhaps that things are finally heating up as politicians, regulators and voters alike see the huge jump in electrical rates looming ever closer.

Whether that means the provincial government will reveal — not only to us, but apparently to Hydro as well — how it plans to deal with the anticipated Muskrat Falls jump in power rates is anyone’s guess.

If the government keeps delaying its explanation, you can only expect the heat to increase.