Lack of public consultation led to ‘chaos,’ mayor says
MHA Lisa Dempster says PUB is going to review fuel prices in Labrador
HAPPY VALLEY-GOOSE BAY — A recent order by the Public Utility Board (PUB) to increase the price of fuels in central and southern Labrador was made with no public consultation, and the mayor of Happy Valley-goose Bay wants to know why.
“We had no knowledge of this whatsoever,” Wally Andersen told Saltwire Network. “With the PUB, when an application for a rate change is made, for example with electricity, there’s usually a public process and hearings, and people get a chance to have their say. There was none of that here. We didn’t find out about this until after.”
Andersen said the town has contacted the PUB and the province about the price increase, and wants answers about why it was not informed. He said a public process could have eliminated the rush on the gas pumps on April 15 when it was heard that gas was going up 30 cents per litre (cpl) in Happy Valley-goose Bay.
“The only word anyone could use to describe it is chaos,” Andersen said. “The biggest thing about avoiding the virus is distancing and by coming out with it this way they added nothing. What they did was essentially force people to the gas stations.”
According to the order from the PUB, the price increase was to address the drastic drop in the price of oil in recent months, compared to the price wholesalers had paid. Wholesalers had applied to the PUB for an increase so they wouldn’t incur significant losses selling their product, and the PUB granted an increase that was 75 per cent of what was asked.
Andersen said the price jump is also coming at a bad time, with many people living on reduced incomes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and if the public had been engaged maybe it could have been rolled out differently.
“Maybe we could have found a way to do it that wouldn’t have been so big a jump at once,” he said. “Either way, people would have known why it was happening.”
Lake Melville MHA Perry Trimper told Saltwire Network
he also was not made aware of the order until after the decision was made.
He and other area politicians had met with the PUB to discuss fuel pricing in the region, but Trimper said he wasn’t aware the wholesalers had made this application to the PUB, nor that it was approved.
“The decision had already been made,” he said. “I was sent it, to ask me what I thought of it, but it was already done.”
Trimper said there should have been an opportunity for stakeholders to make submissions on the increase and how it was implemented.
REVIEW OF FUEL PRICES COMING
Lisa Dempster, MHA for Cartwright-l’anse Au Clair, said she was informed on Friday, April 17 by the PUB that the board would be reviewing the pricing model and adjustment mechanism for fuel in all zones in Labrador, including whether pricing should be frozen in the winter.
Dempster said she is glad to see it happen.
“We’ve been looking for a full review of how fuel is delivered, supplied, sold in Labrador because I felt the current model wasn’t working,” she said. “We’ve been asking for this since 2014 and now they have agreed.”
It’s been a concern in the region for consumers and businesses, and something needs to be done, she said.
If they choose to freeze the prices or stay on the free market, people need to be aware that either method comes with risks, Dempster said.
“Let’s say we lock in in the fall, that protects the consumer if the prices goes up everywhere, but if it goes down consumers won’t get the benefit of the reduced price,” she said. “Either way, it’s a risk.”
According to the email from the PUB that was sent to Dempster, the review will “involve full and transparent consultation with stakeholders in the area with a view to having any necessary changes in place before the next winter season. The board will issue notice to all stakeholders when the review has commenced, setting out the process for the review and how to participate.”
Saltwire Network contacted the PUB for clarification on the process and when it is expected to begin, but an answer was not received by press deadline.