Alberta consumers still waiting for their money
During the period 2010 to 2011, TransAlta overcharged Alberta electricity consumers $27 million. Refer to AUC decision 3110-DO32015 if you wish to read the actual decision (all 217 pages). This figure was determined by the Market Surveillance Administrator (MSA) who works for the Alberta Utilities Commission.
The administrative penalty which was levied against TransAlta for their nefarious activities totalled $56.3 million, made up of a $25 million monetary penalty plus $4.3 million reimbursement for MSA’s cost of conducting the investigation, and the $27 million that was deemed to have been overcharged to Alberta consumers. The whole of the $56.3 million (less the $4.3 million reimbursement to MSA) was quietly deposited into the Alberta government general revenue account. That is to say, the $27 million that MSA determined TransAlta had overcharged Alberta consumers also went into general revenue, for the NDP government to spend as it sees fit, but not back to consumers. In effect, Alberta electricity consumers were robbed twice — once by TransAlta and then again by the Government of Alberta.
Now, we all know the NDP party prides itself in the notion that its prime concern is to protect the little guy from big, bad business or big, bad government — in other words, a party for the people. It was with this in mind that, on Nov. 8, 2016, I penned a letter to Shannon Phillips pointing out this travesty. I imagined she would be chomping at the bit to have her NDP government right this egregious wrong to Albertans that had begun under the watch of the previous government and that good news would be forthcoming.
Thirteen months have passed since I sent this letter, and I have heard nothing back from her, despite a dozen or more attempts on my part to contact Ms. Phillips at her constituency office to get an update. Evidently, managing light bulb and shower-head installations, cutting ribbons or levying carbon taxes are more important to Ms. Phillips than getting this $27 million back to consumers. In her monthly missive which appears in the Lethbridge Herald, she invites readers to contact her at her constituency office if they have a problem, concern or simply want to chat. That hasn’t worked for me yet.
Martin Vogt
Lethbridge