EDMONTON, AB (January, 2016): The NDP government must justify and explain the benefits of their $3-billion carbon tax and energy strategy with Albertans set to see their power bills possibly double or triple according to a new report, the Wildrose Official Opposition said Tuesday.
EDC Associates Ltd. estimates the accelerated shut down of coal could lead to prices per megawatt hour climbing from its current level of $20 to at least $60 or even to $85 an hour in order to have investors put capital towards wind power construction. This increase would be in addition to the transmission cost hike coming as part of the Bill 50 power line builds.
Wildrose believes in improving the regulatory and business environment for renewable energy projects, but wants to ensure Alberta families already struggling won’t be hit with higher power bills or higher taxes.
“So far, the NDP have failed to show any economic plans or projections about the full costs to power consumers,” Wildrose Leader Brian Jean said. “While Albertans are feeling vulnerable from a weakening economy, they have a right to know and understand what the full cost of the NDP’s ideological agenda will be to their bottom line.”
Premier Rachel Notley recently applauded Ontario for how it handled shifting its electrical grid, even though, “there was a cost.”
Ontario’s Auditor General recently released a report outlining the skyrocketing costs to the power grid of Ontario’s plan, and a total lack of checks and balances.
Wildrose Shadow Renewables and Electricity Shadow Minister Don MacIntyre said the NDP government has left a lot of unanswered questions on the final price tag of their plan, risking pushing job creating industries out of province.
“Albertans need assurances that our industries and families will not be shouldering more economic burdens from this government’s reckless experiments and that energy costs will remain stable,” MacIntyre said. “We have already seen a rapid series of dramatic tax increases and new regulations introduced to Alberta since the NDP was elected. They need to start showing Albertans how they plan to deal with the dramatic changes to our electrical grid going forward.”