Local MLA Glenn van Dijken is calling foul on government efforts to deny their knowledge of the controversial ‘Enron clause’ a Ralph Klein-era contract stipulation giving power companies the ability to abandon unprofitable energy deals.
Part of the Klein government’s 1990s energy deregulation, the clause puts the balance of energy costs to a ‘balancing pool,’ a government reserve that serves as default buyer to keep energy sales profitable for power companies.
The ‘Enron clause’ went largely unnoticed until the introduction of the NDPs new carbon levy Jan. 1, taking a substantial chunk out of power companies profits and potentially downloading that cost to the public.
“I recall quite clearly that last fall [the government] was being warned about this,” the Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock MLA said.
“This is extremely concerning that this government would be willing to go ahead with this if they knew about the ramifications that were possibly going to come about from their ideological decision.”
“Albertans are going to be the ones stuck with the bill.”
But van Dijken said that he supports the maintenance of the power purchasing agreements and that the government’s characterization of past the clause as a ‘back room deal’ is irresponsible.
The government, he now says, is either being dishonest or incompetent with the trust of Alberta voters.
Pushing through the carbon levy, he said, endangers the security of power delivery contracts with companies like TransCanada and Enmax, both of which have declared their intent to terminate their Alberta contracts.
Van Dijken argued that altering the contracts at this point would be unfair to energy providers and said that the change will not only drive away business and scare away future development.
“It erodes business confidence. Now we have a government that presents themselves as very much against business stability,” he said.
“It erodes the public confidence in government. The clause was not a hidden clause. It was a clause that everybody was fully aware of going into the negotiations on the pricing and into the bidding process.”
Van Dijken added that the government’s decision doesn’t give businesses the necessary advantage required to successfully operate within the province.
“There’s no way for these companies to pass that tax on and how could a government be so heavy handed to business and think that business is going to be able to survive in that kind of environment,” he said.
“[If these companies] understand the playing field and know the rules of the game are not going to change, then they can do a proper bidding process.”
