Hydro asking PUB for rate increases
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/06/2012 (5033 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Manitoba Hydro wants the Public Utilities Board to approve a 2.5 per cent electricity rate increase effective Sept. 1.
If approved, the electricity bill for a typical residential customer using an average of 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month will increase by $1.80 per month.
The Crown corporation also wants the public regulator to increase rates by a further 3.5 per cent effective April 1, 2013.
Hydro got approval from the PUB three months ago for a two per cent hike to all customers effective April 1. Hydro had wanted a 3.5 per cent increase.
Without the additional money, Hydro said it would see a net loss of $51 million in the next fiscal year and $58 million in 2013-14.
The proposed rate increases come as Hydro heads into a multi-year plan to build the controversial Bipole III transmission line and two new northern generating stations to supply more power to Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Scott Thomson, Hydro’s president and CEO, said in a statement the publicly-owned utility also needs increased revenue to upgrade aging generation and transmission systems.
“Compounding the effects of higher maintenance costs are the financial impacts of lower revenues due to economic conditions and lower prices for competing energy sources in export markets,” Thomson said.
Thomson also said even with the proposed rate increases, Manitobans will continue to pay one of the lowest electricity rates in North America.
He said Saskatchewan and Ontario pay rates that are more than 50 per cent higher than in Manitoba while consumers in North Dakota and Minnesota pay rates between 30 per cent to 40 per cent higher.