[Manitoba Hydro conceded to the Public Utilities Board] that it undertook a massive expansion program— involving three (it was once four) new dams and two new major powerlines (one in the United States)—which it could not afford.
Bipole III, the outrageously expensive power line ($5 billion and counting) that was built to bring electricity from the new dams south to customers in the United States, will be hooked up and operating in July, 2018. That’s when Manitoba Hydro is supposed to start paying back the money it borrowed to build the line and the accumulated interest.
The problem is that Hydro doesn’t have the money to pay for Bipole III !
We’ll repeat that slowly in case you still don’t understand:
Manitoba Hydro
doesn’t have
the money
to pay
for
Bipole III.
Three years later, in 2021, the even more expensive Keeyask dam ($8.7 billion and counting) will go into service. You guessed it…
Manitoba Hydro
doesn’t have
the money
to pay
for
Keeyask
either.
Is the suggestion that Manitoba Hydro cannot finance transmission lines? More to the point is there no contracts to purchase the power from these Dams? Contracts alone would generate capital for the lines.
If Manitoba Hydro credit is as bad as suggested then these lines can be done by private capital ala Brookfield Asset Management.
Government of all stripes do a poor job of capital management because they answer to a financially illiterate voter base. Politicians themselves are mostly financially incompetent.
One of Canada’s better politicians retired yesterday. The country’s leadership is now dominated by lightweights to put it nicely.
Like TransCanada and Enbridge I am divesting from Canada as quickly as possible.
15 odd years of SpeNDP rule is going to rear it’s ugly head again and again, but not to worry, the unions and media will be sure to lay the blame at the feet of Pallister. Funny how emails aren’t an issue when you name is Clinton but they are hammering the Premier about them in Winnipeg. I wonder if they even stop to think about the hypocrisy.
“Funny how emails aren’t an issue when you name is Clinton but they are hammering the Premier about them in Winnipeg.”
That’s because Conservatives aren’t allowed to have holidays like the filthy commies were.
Manitoba and Quebec have chosen artificially low electricity rates in order to maintain their preeminence at the Equalization trough.
Formula:
Lower rates = lower GDP
High taxes and regulation to keep economic growth in check.
Collect huge equalization payments.
Surprise…..nothing government does with public money has a happy ending.
Graft, mismanagement, grifters and thieves are all involved. There is no such thing as the greater public good.
Best advice would be to avoid paying taxes wherever possible. They will toss your hard earned money down the socialist toilet everytime.
Shop underground economy, buy you weed from the mom and pop growers …. in other words go Galt as you can.
Socialist governments don’t stop until everyone is living in a shit hole will not enough to eat.
We have seen this before and it’s coming to Canada.
Lacking a crisis is fatal for the central bureaucracy; therefore, any opportunity to manufacture a crisis is seized upon. Moral panics are a primary goto here. Stir up some pearl clutching, and some “won’t somebody please think of the children”, and you can get almost everybody to trade even more of their liberty for the illusion of security.
It is amazing that hydro-Rich provinces like mb BC nl and qc cannot build these projects profitably.
The crown hydro assets should all be privatized pronto
The NDP has screwed Manitobans over for a generation because of this. Hopefully the magnitude of this situation will be put in perspective against things like health care costs they’re trying to rein in.
Imagine the money stolen/squandered in the useless crown corps SGI,MPIC,ICBC come to mind. Then toss in Sask Power MB power etc.
Oh, and how about health care…..
I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that Manitoba Hydro anticipated there would be demand for their “renewable” hydro power in the US markets and this demand isn’t materializing.
But at least many people were employed in the construction of the hydro lines and damn. The only thing left is the bill.
Hydro power is … “clean, green, and carbon-neutral” … and we should all PAY ANYTHING to save the planet from the evil oil interests. PAY anything. And start PAYING it nowwwww !! (Sarc. Off) … but that is the justification of this insanity.
Sell the hydro dams to China. It’s the Canadian way.
just playing ‘catch up’ with ontariowe . . . . .
The solution is simple:
http://boisdejustice.com/Drawings/Drawings.html
The joke about renewable energy, is that States like Minnesota and Wisconsin (main export markets for Manitoba Hydro) don’t consider hyrdo-electricity as sustainable, and renewable. In order to gain contracts, Manitoba Hydro has to purchase electricity from some wind farms built in Manitoba. One near St. Leon, and the other near St. Jean, along Hwy 75, which is the main highway into North Dakota. So Hydro over pays for so called “green energy” then saddles the Manitoba citizens with the debt, and increased electrical costs. Oh, and by the way, the wind farm besides Hwy 75 is also smack dab in the middle of the Red River migratory bird route.
Bipole III was built on the west side of the Province, because of former Premier Gary Doer (remember him? Former Ambassador of Canada to the USA.) had this grandiose plan that the east side of Lake Manitoba would be named a UNESCO Heritage Site, so the boreal forest could not be touched, and he didn’t want to negotiate with the First Nations persons in that area, even though they welcomed the idea of having a new road available to them, as part of the transmission route. The whole deal stank to high heaven, the extended route created more union jobs, and I wonder which land owners, that were friends of the NDP, gained most.
The situation isn’t as bad as Ontario, and their disastrous green energy plan, but I expect I’ll face a 100% increase in my Hydro bill within 10 years.
“Hydro power is … “clean, green, and carbon-neutral”
Well Kenji….NO…hydro is not all that. The turbine blades tend to “knock” a lot of shit out of the water as they operate. Things like methane , CO2, mercury. Down river from “Niagara” there is a minor ecosystem the evolves from this fact. There are 8 or 9 components that are liberates in hydro electric operations. But, hydro still has a lot of advantages over “renewables”, and the major one is reliability, and fewer bird kills:-)
So – if I read the Black Rod correctly and surf Manitoba Hydro at the Wiki,
A bunch of bureaucrats answerable to the Provincial government committed the entity, and by extension the taxpayers and electricity consumers of Manitoba, to billions of dollars of capital expenditure with no long term supply contracts to underwrite that otherwise unsupportable expansion ‘plan’ ( dream ) ?
Because as the sole Provincial electricity supplier, they should prudently stick to their core mission.
But that’s boring and how are we going to get wined-and-dined by consultants, investment bankers and power construction firms if we simply prudently manage our business ?
Hope they all got a nice free ‘coffee mug’ *cough* from the happy recipients of all the largesse provided by the good people of Manitoba, who will presumably be paying the bill for this in perpetuity.
Step 1) deregulate. Have a free market for electricity BEFORE privatization of crown assets
Step 2) privatize those crown assets!
Wtf? Closet capitalist?
Harper opened western grain trade. Whole lotta Canola now. Wheat #2.