NDP ZAPPED ABOUT PLAN TO FREEZE HYDRO RATES

Greens, Liberals team up to pester minister about role of utilities commission in pricing

The NDP government news release left no doubt about the fate of a pending three per cent increase in electricity rates.

“Province delivers on commitment to freeze B.C. Hydro rates,” declared the headline Wednesday.

Hydro “will be pulling back” on a request to the B.C. Utilities Commission for a three per cent increase starting April 1 in keeping with an NDP election promise of a one-year rate freeze, the release went on to say.

Savings for ratepayers will be $150 million, according to Energy Minister Michelle Mungall.

Government makes promise, keeps promise, would not normally be cause for controversy. But within a couple of hours Wednesday, the rate freeze led to a rhetorical eruption on the floor of the legislature.

It started with B.C. Liberal MLA Tracy Redies, the former B.C. Hydro board member, pressing Mungall on something not mentioned in the release — the actual mechanism for implementing the freeze. Would it not need approval by the utilities commission? Mungall agreed that it would, adding “we hope it goes forward.”

Redies: “The minister just announced today a rate freeze. But based on her answer, she’s saying it may or may not happen because the BCUC might decide it’s not appropriate. Is there a rate freeze or isn’t there?”

Mungall: “There is going to be an application for a rate freeze before the B.C. Utilities Commission.”

That, too, might have been the end of the story: minister clarifies news release. Then Green party Leader Andrew Weaver entered the fray.

“I feel that this is quite misleading.” he said.

“I would like the minister to please clarify why the press release says, on the one hand, there’s a rate freeze, and now here today we understand that there’s not really a rate freeze but an application for a rate freeze.”

Perhaps taken aback to be accused of misleading the public by the NDP’s partner in power sharing, Mungall professed to be mystified: “I am sorry that he finds it misleading. I personally am curious as to how he does.”

The explanation was coming. But first Redies had a question: What if the commission were to say “no?”

Mungall: “That’s a fair question, absolutely, and we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. … So I just want to be very clear for the record that I’m not prejudging, and nobody in this government is prejudging, the outcome at the commission.”

Weaver again: “I’m really troubled by what’s being revealed. It is very clear from that press release that the government is telling British Columbians that they are going to freeze Hydro rates by April 2018. That’s the only message that you can take from this press release.”

He then raised the stakes, by bringing up the terms of the Green party’s power-sharing agreement with the NDP.

“It’s the only message that we took from our no-surprises, good-faith confidence and supply agreement discussions about this issue here.

“This is a surprise that we are not actually freezing rates, but we’re going to the BCUC to ask them whether they will give us permission to freeze rates … I believe that the minister owes British Columbians a formal correction in a press release.”

Back to you minister.

“I guess the leader of the third party and myself and our government are going to maybe have to agree to disagree in terms of the wording of the press release,” said Mungall, tiring of the line of questioning.

The Green leader wasn’t done: “The press release should have said “B.C. government will seek the ability from BCUC to freeze rates …. You know, sometimes it’s OK to admit that you’ve made an error, but it is not OK to double down in defence of something that is clearly wrong.”

Good advice. Mungall wasn’t having any of it.

Instead, after going a couple more rounds with the Liberals she sought a brief recess, then the entire debate was adjourned at the behest of the government.

Outside the house Weaver explained he was concerned about more than the wording of a news release. Rather it was the suggestion that the freeze was a done deal and the commission verdict a foregone conclusion.

“If I were the BCUC and an independent auditing agency I would call in some experts who are allowed to testify, who are allowed to have interventions, and I would ask is this fiscally responsible?” he told broadcaster Lynda Steele during an interview on radio station CKNW.

Underscoring the concern about independence, Weaver noted that past governments have overruled the commission. But the New Democrats have pledged not to do that.

“It’s not the same thing to say you’re stopping a rate increase from saying you’re sending it to the BCUC to see what they say,” he continued. “The B.C. NDP, with respect to Site C, have time in and time out talked about the importance of the independence of the BCUC. So to say on the one hand you’ve stopped a rate increase and on the other hand say you respect the independence of the BCUC, it’s inconsistent and therein lies the problem.”

Case not closed. Mungall has since returned to her riding to recuperate from an unspecified health issue and is due back in the house when it sits again Nov. 20. I expect the Liberals and Greens will try to pick up where they left off Wednesday afternoon.

The press release should have said ‘B.C. government will seek the ability from BCUC to freeze rates.’