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Wildrose MLA Guy Boutilier walks party leader Danielle Smith to her table for dinner, where one attendee paid $3,100 for Smith's company in the live auction at a fundraiser in St. Paul on Jan. 31.

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Wildrose zaps PCs on power

The Wildrose Party released its policy on power last week, promising to tackle increasing power bills Albertans face.

“The most volatile prices are now the regulated rate option,” party leader Danielle Smith said in response to an audience member’s question at a fundraiser in St. Paul last week. “The government actually isn’t doing anything to mitigate against those wild price soars.”

Five years ago, forward contracts were offered to help maintain stability in prices, she said. One solution is to go back to calculating the regulated rate as done previously to have long term price stability, she said.

Power companies should pay a portion of new construction, she said, referring to Bill 50 proposed transmission lines, which garnered audience applause. Bill 50 lines planned to be built with taxpayer money will be used to export power to the U.S., Smith claimed.

“It’s American consumers who are going to benefit from the power, then American consumers can pay to build those transmission lines. It shouldn’t be you and me.”

The decision for transmission capacity needs to be decided by an independent needs assessment, not cabinet as legislated in Bill 50, added local candidate Shayne Saskiw.

The party’s plan would encourage energy efficiency measures with tax rebates for energy efficient appliances or micro-generation such as solar panels, wind turbines or geothermal, said Smith.

Smith said the recent spike in power bills is not due to high utilization, as claimed by Minister Dave Hancock while on the cabinet tour in Ashmont, in response to a question from the Journal before the dinner.

While Alberta has regulated rates, it has stopped hedging, “So we’re not getting the average pricing that we used to get in the past. As a result, those on the regulated option are seeing more volatility than they ever have before. Our regulated rates are now at record highs,” said Smith.

Consumers think they receive price protection with the regulated rate option and the government is managing the rate, “and that’s not happening.”

The Wildrose Party wants to do what it can to reduce the volatility, she said.

Wildrose believes it needs to control the regulated cost on transmission distribution, she said, referring the costs paid before electricity is used.

The party’s plan includes repealing $16 billion in Bill 50 transmission lines, she said. If the lines go ahead, it will triple the portion of the bill related to transmission costs, said Smith.

The plan calls to promote local generators to compete with distant generators and to reform how electricity is bought and sold in the market.

“If we can get more people building generation closer to the consumer, it will reduce our need to build costly transmission lines and we will be able to control our prices.”