Hydro rate freeze was ‘financially irresponsible,’ Tories say

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This article was published 31/03/2025 (219 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As Manitoba Hydro seeks to hike its electricity rate 10.5 per cent over the next three years, the Progressive Conservatives are blaming a recent NDP-led rate freeze for the sticker shock.

The Crown corporation submitted a three-year general rate application to the Public Utilities Board on Friday. It’s asking for a 3.5 per cent increase to electricity rates in 2026, 2027 and 2028.

The New Democrats implemented a one-year rate freeze in 2025, following through on a key election pledge. Manitoba Hydro hadn’t increased its rate since a one per cent hike in April 2024.

Lauren Stone, the PC critic for Manitoba Hydro, called the NDP rate freeze “financially irresponsible.”

“We warned last year that a rate freeze today could mean rate shock tomorrow,” Stone said Sunday. “That’s exactly what we’re going to be seeing over the next few years.”

The need for rate increases isn’t surprising; it’s something Manitoba Hydro projected, but the New Democrats interfered in the PUB process, Stone alleged.

Adrien Sala, the cabinet minister responsible for Manitoba Hydro, said if Manitobans experienced any rate shock, it was when the PCs were in power and raised rates every year “without actually delivering anything in the way of new energy or more energy reliability for Manitobans.

“What we’re doing is bringing in a hydro rate freeze that again freezes your hydro rates over the course of 2025 and then, following that, ensuring continued affordable hydro rates while we do the work of building out new energy sources like the 600 megawatts of new wind (energy) we’re going to be developing in partnership with First Nations and the Métis here in Manitoba,” Sala said.

Manitoba Hydro reported net financial losses in two of the last three years because of drought. In a news release, it highlighted aging infrastructure and upcoming “significant costs” for maintenance and upgrading.

“We realize this is a challenging time for Manitobans already paying higher prices for many goods and services,” Allan Danroth, Hydro’s chief executive, was quoted as saying in the release.

Manitoba Hydro is facing increased costs, too, Danroth said. The requested rates will ensure Hydro can “continue to provide safe, reliable energy now and into the future.”

The proposed changes would see an uptick of $3.69, $3.81 and $3.94 per month for residential customers using 1,000 kWh per month, Hydro said. For consumers using 2,000 kWh monthly, the increases would be $7.05, $7.28 and $7.53.

“Money in (Manitobans’) pockets are getting less and less,” Stone said. “(Manitobans are) already stretched, and they can’t take anymore.”

If approved, the initial rate increase would take effect Jan. 1. A coalition of consumer groups plans to intervene in Manitoba Hydro’s application first.

“We want a strong Crown corporation, for sure, but we also want those rates to be fair to consumers,” Katrine Dilay — a lawyer with the Public Interest Law Centre, which represents the coalition — said.

The Consumers’ Association of Canada Manitoba branch, Harvest Manitoba and the Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg make up the group.

The coalition hopes to ask Manitoba Hydro questions — related to the Crown corporation’s operating expenses, forecasts and capital expenses objectives, among other things — during the PUB application process. The PUB must first approve the group.

“Seeing rate increases of this magnitude… certainly, what comes to mind is the financial pressures already being faced by residential ratepayers in terms of high inflation, economic uncertainty over the last few years,” Dilay said.

Manitoba Hydro said the proposed increases will help it develop new energy sources to supply the province’s growing need for electricity.

The province’s 2025 budget reduces Hydro’s debt guarantee fee and eliminates the Crown corporation capital tax the utility pays. The changes will reduce Hydro’s expenses by $268 million annually, on average, Hydro’s news release stated.

gabrielle.piche@freepress.mb.ca