‘Dracula Unbound’

A new horror movie is in town. It is “Dracula Unbound,” a.k.a. Muskrat Falls, and yes, it is much scarier than the 1931 version of Bram Stoker’s classic, starring Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula. The 2012 version of Muskrat Falls had all kinds of scary features, designed to hold the unsuspecting ratepayer in its evil clutch. These dramatic features include the following:

• A 50 year take-or-pay power purchase agreement from which the ratepayer could not escape even if, heaven forbid, the North Spur collapses and there is no power.

• Special legislation, thanks to the Dunderdale government, to enshrine the monopoly power of Nalcor and to wrap the ratepayer in chains.

• An escalating supply price to ensure that future generations cannot escape from these chains and dramatically to escalate the blood plasma extracted by Dracula from our children and their children.

• A special low price for Nova Scotia for whom Dracula is collecting the plasma from Newfoundland ratepayers.

In doing the 2018 remake of the old movie, the silver-maned director believed it should be scarier still. Bring on more terror he cried! Ratepayers, albeit chained, would still be able to make choices. They could decide to purchase other forms of plasma than electrical energy. Economists talked about an arcane cult who believed in consumer choice and they tried to measure it using an esoteric concept called “elasticity.” Ratepayers might yet escape their chains by substituting other forms of energy.

The director decided to ensure that the chains were good and tight to keep the many from escaping, even if a privileged few were allowed to escape.

During the PUB hearing on Aug. 7, 2018, an official from Hydro spoke of a two-tier declining rate system which would enable Dracula to fill the Muskrat Falls blood bank. There will be two tiers and a different rate for each tier. The first tier might be for 1,000 kilowatt hours per month, enough to supply power for all household needs except space heating and the rate might be 22 cents per kwh. The second tier, covering power use above 1,000 kwh, would be priced below the current rate, say at nine cents. The declining twotier system rewards higher consumption by big energy users.

The non-electric heat customers would have no choice but to pay the higher rate, double current rates. They have no way to escape other than to leave the province or disconnect from the grid. The small electric heat customer, on the other hand, would enjoy some benefit from the low rate on consumption over 1,000 kwh per month. The large electric space heating group uses a lot of electricity for heating. Included among their number are those who benefited from construction of the project.

In his Uncle Gnarley post on Aug. 20, 2018 Planetnl describes three representative ratepayers. He compares their fate under a single-tier system, with rates rising by 50 per cent, to an average of 18 cents per kwh, with a two-tier system, also targeted to yield 18 cents. His three ratepayer groups are:

A: Those without electric heat whose annual power cost will go from $1,000 to $1,700, with a single rate of 18 cents, but to more than $2,000 under a two-tier system. This group will pay through the nose because their bills will double.

B: Those with modest electrically heated homes whose bill would go from $2,200 to $3,400 under both the single-tier system and the two-tiered system. For them it is a draw.

C: Those with large electrically heated homes, whose bill will go from $4,300 to $6,800 under the single-tier system, compared with just $5,000 under the twotiered system. These include those who benefited from construction and who will continue to benefit.

The terror in “Dracula Unbound” (2018) is reserved for the many at the bottom of the income scale, who will be impoverished by Muskrat Falls. The few winners, at the top of the income scale, will feast on this movie but it will be a box office failure when the many losers from Muskrat Falls stay away in droves.

David Vardy St. John’s