Redford government announces electricity review

The Redfordgovernmentis reviewing the province's electricity retail market toaddress issues ofvolatility and costs associated with the variable, or default, rate.

The announcement comes days before an election isto be called.

"Albertans pay, on average, about the same for electricity as people in most other provinces," said Energy Minister Ted Morton. "However, our prices do fluctuate from month-to-month for those who are not on a fixed-rate contract, and sometimes quite significantly."

About 70 per cent of consumers pay the default rate.

The fluctuations do not affect those Albertans who have signed long-term contracts with power providers.

Opposition parties blamethe province's move to deregulate electricity a decade ago.

"Before the PCs deregulated electricity, Alberta had among the lowest power bills in the country," said Liberal MLA Kent Hehr. "Since deregulation, we pay among the highest."

Thefour-person committee will lookat how the default rate is calculated and determine ways to reduce price fluctuations.

The committee will also review whetherthere should bea default rate at all, said Morton.

The committee will be chaired by Ted Pound, current member and former chair of the Utilities Consumer Advocate Advisory Board, and will also include Dr. C.R. (Sid) Carlson, Rick Cowburn and Nat Treadway.

The committee members will consideradvice fromregulating bodies, including the Alberta Utilities Commission and the Market Surveillance Administrator.

Electricity distribution owners, electric retailers, and associations representing municipalities, power producers and consumers will be invited to present to the committee.

The Utilities Consumer Advocatewill represent consumers' interests.

Individual consumers will beinvited tofill out an online survey, details of which will be made public in May.

The committee will make recommendations to government by early summer of this year.