Joe McFarland on Alberta's Bizarre Lawsuit

Staying with Alberta ... the NDP government filed a "bizarre" lawsuit this week against power companies, including utilities which are owned, or partly owned by the cities of Calgary and Edmonton in order to stop the companies from backing out of power contracts which have been made less profitable by Alberta's increased carbon costs (taxes, closing of coal powered power generation).  The lawsuit names the province's own regulatory agency, the Alberta Utilities Commission for "unlawfully" agreeing in 2000 to terms which allow termination of so-called Power Purchase Arrangements "if a change in law renders the PPA unprofitable, or more unprofitable."

Basically, the NDP government is suing its own agency and power companies for reacting to provincial regulations which drive up the price of power and reduce profits. Could this lead toward the situation which exists in the U.K. where thousands of elderly and poor are dying annually because they cannot afford the increasing price of electricity.  It's projected that by 2030, 100,000 people in the U.K. will die of being cold because they cannot afford electricity. It's already been a crisis in an Ontario community in the Winter of 2014.
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Staying with Alberta ... the NDP government filed a "bizarre" lawsuit this week against power companies, including utilities which are owned, or partly owned by the cities of Calgary and Edmonton in order to stop the companies from backing out of power contracts which have been made less profitable by Alberta's increased carbon costs (taxes, closing of coal powered power generation).  The lawsuit names the province's own regulatory agency, the Alberta Utilities Commission for "unlawfully" agreeing in 2000 to terms which allow termination of so-called Power Purchase Arrangements "if a change in law renders the PPA unprofitable, or more unprofitable."

Basically, the NDP government is suing its own agency and power companies for reacting to provincial regulations which drive up the price of power and reduce profits. Could this lead toward the situation which exists in the U.K. where thousands of elderly and poor are dying annually because they cannot afford the increasing price of electricity.  It's projected that by 2030, 100,000 people in the U.K. will die of being cold because they cannot afford electricity. It's already been a crisis in an Ontario community in the Winter of 2014.

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