PUB asks consumer group to speak on Hydro transparency

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This article was published 20/06/2021 (1187 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Major industrial power users and other customers are being asked to respond by Thursday to Manitoba Hydro’s refusal to hand over information about its financial future, as ordered by the Public Utilities Board.

Hydro said it wants to hear more from Consumers Coalition members about why they require the Crown corporation to provide an integrated financial forecast, and to have a chance to reply to the coalition.

The Public Utilities Board, the quasi-judicial watchdog overseeing rate-setting for utilities in Manitoba, has invited the Consumers Coalition to file written submissions by Thursday about why they need Hydro to be transparent when it comes to the provincially owned power company’s finances and how they may affect rates.

The group representing consumers, industrial power users, and environmentalists complained to the PUB earlier this year about Manitoba Hydro failing to produce an appropriate integrated financial forecast since 2016, and its lack of transparency regarding the most recent rate and regulatory changes imposed by the legislature.

In May, the PUB gave Hydro 30 days to provide a detailed financial forecast.

Hydro balked, saying it didn’t need to provide such information because there hadn’t been a significant change in its circumstances to warrant a PUB review of its rates.

A PUB spokesperson said Monday, after receiving and reviewing the submissions from the Consumers Coalition, the board will “provide additional process instructions to Manitoba Hydro, including an opportunity to reply to the submissions.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca