NB Power sale a dead deal

Jamie Ross – The Aquinian –

NBPower protesters last Friday got their wish. Hydro-Quebec is no longer planning to purchase NBPower. (Kyle Albright/AQ)

Just days after about 1, 000 people turned out to the provincial legislature to protest the sale of NB Power’s generating assets to Hydro-Quebec,  Premier Shawn Graham said this morning the energy deal has been cancelled.

Graham said in a press release that Hydro-Quebec “asked for changes to the agreement that would have unacceptably taken away some of the value and increased some of the risks for New Brunswickers.”

The deal took two different forms since it was proposed late in October.

The original signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) was worth $4.8 billion.

A $3.2 billion revised deal was then tabled in late January, which would have allowed NB Power to keep its distribution and transmission lines.

Power rates for industrial customers, under the revised deal, would have been cut by about 23 per cent, while residential customers were in line for a five-year rate freeze.

The Council of Canadians, a citizens’ group with chapters across the country, is calling today’s announcement a victory for New Brunswickers.

Andrea Harden-Donahue,  an energy campaigner with the group, said in a release that the government’s decision to scrap the power deal is a “testament to the power that people have when we unite and organize for the common good.”