Fate of Edmonton’s district energy initiative in flux, city may be out millions

EDMONTON Edmonton’s Downtown district energy initiative — a key tool to reduce the city’s emission levels — could be on the chopping block.

And it could cost Edmonton more than $3 million, at the same time hampering the Francis Winspear Centre for Music’s expansion plans.

The problem started in August when the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) denied Enmax’s application for a regulatory exemption, a crucial part of the business case for the initiative. The plan was for Enmax, in partnership with the city and Epcor, to be the plant’s owner and operate out of the Winspear Centre.

With that no longer the case, city administration has laid out in an upcoming report a few options to consider, including shelving the initiative.

Ward 9 Coun. Tim Cartmell wants more clarification before committing to any option.

“The report doesn’t include any kind of financial modelling for the different options,” he said. “That’s first and foremost for me. Knowing what the financial outlook would be for any of these options versus the benefits that any of these options present is really the fundamental question and we don’t have the financials to it.”

Those options include the city taking on ownership and financing while a utility partnership handles the day to day. Another option is the city allowing Epcor to own and operate it.

A third option is to have the initiative fully under the city with no utility partner while the fourth and final option is to hold off on the initiative for now.

Generally, public utilities owned or operated by municipalities that provide services within their borders are exempt from AUC regulation and are handled by local councils.

That is why ENMAX needed to seek an exemption from the regulatory system.

Since that can’t happen now, the city will have to pay Enmax as much as $3.037 million for the work that’s been done.

The two entered into a funding agreement back in 2016.