‘Your bills should stay low’: NDP decries hydro smart meter plan

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This article was published 31/07/2023 (824 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The NDP is seeking to short circuit the Progressive Conservative government’s “energy road map” by raising the spectre of the “wealthy” profiting from higher Manitoba Hydro rates.

On Monday, with a provincial election looming little more than two months away, the official Opposition accused the governing PCs of wanting Manitoba consumers to pay more for power. It also took umbrage at recent remarks by the government-appointed head of the Hydro board, who compared the provincial utility to shopping at a dollar store.

NDP MLAs, provincial election candidates, and local union leaders gathered outside Hydro headquarters in Winnipeg, where, three days earlier, Premier Heather Stefanson had announced an “energy road map” to navigate growing global demand for the green power Manitoba produces.

The plan includes attracting investment to expand the power grid, attracting green industries, and providing incentives — such as smart meters — to encourage Manitobans to use less power during peak times.

Other jurisdictions have installed such meters to offer time-of-day rates in order to “shave the peak” off electricity usage.

“We definitely want to do this,” board chairman Edward Kennedy said July 28.

“In some ways, we’ve been the Dollarama of hydro because — if you looked at it from that side — if it’s too cheap, how do we conserve?” Kennedy said of Manitoba Hydro’s rates.

“The affordability commitment is firm, but we also need to find incentives to save,” he said. “Smart meters allow us to do that.”

On Monday, the New Democrats said it’s proof the PCs want to raise consumer hydro rates to benefit “big-business types.”

“The PCs surge-pricing plan is a tax on your energy when you need it most — on the coldest days and the coldest nights — and it means Manitobans will pay even more to heat their homes if Heather Stefanson is re-elected,” NDP hydro critic Adrien Sala said.

“That’s why we have public ownership of Manitoba Hydro, so we can cut out the profits that are sought by the big-business types that surround Heather Stefanson,” NDP Leader Wab Kinew added.

“We all know the cost of everything is going up these days, but your hydro bill doesn’t have to. With the Manitoba advantage — cheap, publicly-owned clean energy — your bills should stay low.”

The NDP leader further accused Kennedy of mocking Manitobans struggling with rising prices who shop at discount stores.

“I take personal umbrage with very wealthy people talking about these things and coming out and making fun of people who shop at Dollarama,” Kinew said.

“If you have the head of Hydro appointed by Heather Stefanson coming out and saying Hydro shouldn’t be like Dollarama, he’s making fun of cheap prices,” Kinew said. “He’s making fun of people who need help with affordability and he’s saying that they want to raise rates.”

Kennedy did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

If the PCs wanted to conserve energy, they could help people make their homes more energy efficient and reduce their hydro bills, said Kinew, MLA for Fort Rouge.

“They want to charge premium prices on Manitoba Hydro,” the NDP leader said. “That’s wrong… Only the PCs and only Heather Stefanson would think the way to conserve energy is to charge you more money.”

Seeking to become government in the Oct. 3 election, the NDP wants to see training programs around energy efficiency that provide good-paying unionized jobs to the next generation to help Manitoba residents conserve energy and save money, Kinew said.

“There are so many things we want to do with Manitoba Hydro,” he said, promising the release of an NDP energy policy in the coming weeks.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca