PUB abuse of power

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/06/2009 (6156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE Public Utilities Board has no good data to support its order that will force Manitoba Hydro to cut the heating costs for low-income Manitobans. Having manu­factured a crisis — where is the evidence impoverished Manitobans are buckling under their energy costs? — the utilities regula­tor then asserts other Hydro customers can easily afford to subsidize the costs of such a program. The PUB’s order is an abuse of its powers and it should be made to prove its case in court.
 

The PUB began talking about a program for low-income ratepayers in 2006, when the NDP government first raised the prospect of using Hydro export revenues to control the rising costs of natural gas. It was a patently bad idea then, and the government was forced to back down on enabling legislation, but the experience apparently has not informed the thinking of an overly interventionist utilities board.

Just how bad is the PUB’s business case for low-income support is revealed in its description of the problem, described as something just short of an emergency: "Energy affordability for low-income families is very much an issue that requires more or less immediate attention in Manitoba," it said in a recent order. In the absence of good evidence, it has plucked from thin air inflated estimates of Manitoba’s low-income population. Last year, in a ruling that bemoaned the ineffectiveness of Manitoba Hydro programs that aim to help impoverished customers cut their heating bills, the PUB noted that "the current low-income population is likely at least in the order of 100,000 households." That’s an extraordinary number, representing more than 20 per cent of Manitoba’s 450,000 households. It defies Statistics Canada’s own estimates, which in 2005 put the low-income population in Manitoba at 12.6 per cent.

Other utility regulators in Canada are juggling similar demands to ease the energy costs of low-income households. Two separate court rulings in Nova Scotia and Ontario have split on the powers of regulators to force energy companies to set lower rates for low-income households. The PUB believes its act gives it the authority to order such a program.

The board now has dumped into Hydro’s lap the job of drawing up a plan that will set a method by which energy costs can be cut, and the criteria by which households will qualify. This means that the Crown corporation will have to assess the number of low-incomers who are at risk of defaulting on their bills, or are paying an excessive portion of annual income on energy bills.

What the board has done, in effect, is ordered a solution for a problem that might not exist. The PUB has overstepped its mandate, which is to regulate power rates to reflect the cost of producing hydroelectricity in Manitoba. The PUB is not mandated to set public policy, which is a job for the legislature. Manitoba Hydro ought to be contesting this order, challenging both the statutory authority of the PUB and the evidence it has presented to support the need for such a program.

If there are sufficient numbers of Manitobans freezing in the dark, or going without a meal because of inordinate energy costs, the NDP government should be on the case. The relief for such a problem more logically should come through income assistance and social programming or through the tax regime. Premier Gary Doer should tell the PUB to stick to its mandate, and keep its fingers out of social assistance.