Hydro wants to charge more if you use more
Manitoba Hydro has proposed a change in electricity pricing for homeowners – an “inverted rate structure”. Under this new plan, homeowners would be charged a lower rate for a determined amount of power usage and a higher rate for anything above that. Hydro has applied to the Public Utility Board to implement a fee structure where Manitobans would pay 5.98¢ per kWh for the first 900 kWh they use and 6.01¢ per kWh for any power usage above that. Other utilities (Quebec, California, Washington State) have been doing this for a while and in Manitoba the concept (with different rates) has already been in place for commercial usage. Environmentalists applaud the move, pointing out that despite Manitoba Hydro’s extensive and well-intentioned Power Smart program, Manitoba has seen increased power usages of 7% per year recently. Next door in Saskatchewan, power use has dropped 3% per year through less extensive conservation programs.
Why such an emphasis on conserving energy in a province where rates are among the lowest in the world? The cynic would argue that this just means greater profits for Manitoba Hydro – if Manitobans use less electricity then Hydro will have more to sell to customers in the US and to Ontario! The environmentalists would point out, however, that selling more electricity to the US and Ontario means less pressure for them to build or continue to use dirty coal-fired electricity plants Coal is cheap and abundant in the US, but burning coal releases greenhouse gases (CO2 emissions) and dirties the air. Mining coal also has huge environmental impacts (strip-minining in Appalachia!?). So despite my cynical first reaction to this headline in the Winnipeg Free Press, I think I’m going to agree that it’s a step in the right direction. I also agree with those who say that it’s a baby step and that Hydro needs to be more aggressive – the rate difference needs to have more of a bite to be effective. However, Hydro must provide special rates and/or increasing lower power limit in winter months so as to not have disproportionate impacts on the poor/elderly who often live in older less efficient homes and those who heat their homes in Manitoba’s cold winters.
Mr. Patenaude