Province introduces bill that would offer loans to utilities
Up to $119 million has been approved for lending through the Balancing Pool
EDMONTON The provincial government is set to approve loans for utility companies to cover the anticipated $337-million worth of utility payments Albertans are expected to have deferred by June as a result of COVID-19.
Details of the government’s utilities deferral program, first announced in March, were formalized in legislation tabled Wednesday when MLAS returned to the legislative assembly.
If passed, the Utility Payment Deferral Program Act, or Bill 14, will allow electricity and natural gas providers to apply for loans either from the provincial Balancing Pool, the agency responsible for managing power purchase agreements with major power plants, or the government itself to help cover deferred payments.
Up to $119 million has been approved for loans through the Balancing Pool and another $104 million has been provided by the government. Another $114 million will be managed through the Alberta Electric System Operator.
“(The program) enables residential, farm and small commercial utility consumers to defer their natural gas and electricity payments until June 18 of this year without being charged late fees or having their utility services cut off,” said Dale Nally, associate minister of natural gas and electricity.
“It’s a program designed to help Albertans when they need it the most.”
Irfan Sabir, NDP critic for energy, said although the program is a good step, it does not go far enough and he will be asking for an amendment to provide a longer period of relief.
Other provinces are providing grants directly to consumers as opposed to deferrals, he said.
“Alberta’s businesses cannot carry thousands of dollars in debt. We want them spending money in stores and restaurants — that’s how we actually relaunch our economy,” he said. “The only ones who really benefit from Bill 14 over the long term are utility companies and the government allows them to borrow interest-free loans and then later recoup deferred utility fees.”
The program applies to electricity consumers who consume less than 250,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year and natural gas consumers, who consume less than 2,500 gigajoules per year.
Nally said the government would be open to extending the program beyond June if necessary. Customers have a year to pay back their deferred charges after the program ends either through monthly instalments or deals signed with the retailers.
The loans to companies will be paid back as money comes in from consumers, Nally said.
While the program is aimed at people who lost work or had to stay home as a result of the global pandemic, the program does not have any criteria requiring Albertans to prove they can’t pay their bills as a result of COVID -19 before applying to their utility company for a deferral.
“We have a strong belief in the honesty of Albertans,” Nally said.
Meanwhile, the NDP’S attempt to call an emergency debate on the conditions in Alberta meat processing plants did not get the unanimous consent required to go ahead.
The motion put forward included a call for an out-of-province investigator to monitor all meat-packing facilities in Alberta, and called for a public inquiry into the Cargill outbreak once the public health state of emergency is lifted.
There have been multiple COVID-19 outbreaks at plants in Alberta including Cargill near High River with 946 cases, JBS in Brooks with 566 cases, and Harmony Beef north of Calgary with 38 cases.
“The outbreak at the Cargill meat packing plant is the biggest in Canada, the outbreak at JBS is the second biggest, and cases are surging at Harmony Beef,” NDP Leader Rachel Notley said prior to question period. “Jason Kenney and the UCP government failed to protect these workers. People have died and more lives are at stake as they fail to take action.”
Notley pointed to media reports that sick workers at the Cargill plant were ordered back to work and threatened if they called in sick and that managers allegedly had face masks while workers were left unprotected.
MLAS are not required to provide an explanation for not agreeing to the debate.
Earlier in the day, responding to questions from Notley, Premier Jason Kenney said the opposition wants the government to “override, ignore the advice of the chief medical officer of health, of the occupational health and safety branch of Labour and Immigration, of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, of Alberta agriculture officials, all of whom have validated their belief that all necessary precautions have been taken.”
He added that a team was deployed by Alberta Health Services to Cargill as soon as the first outbreak was confirmed.