Independent Producers To Develop Low-cost Electricity

Calgary AB, -- -

Calgary AB, -- Independent power producers say Albertans will suffer if last-minute fear mongering slows down the restructuring of the province's electricity marketplace, says Independent Power Producers Society of Alberta (IPPSA) chairman Guido Bachmann, responding to concerns that deregulation will bring higher prices and inadequate supply to the province's electricity market.

"I don't think the critics understand what the benefit of this act will be," he said recently.

"They pay lower costs for airline tickets and long distance telephone service because they can shop around," says Bachmann. "It's the simple reality of the competitive marketplace. To say this is not good legislation, and not at all appropriate, is taking away from the ability of Albertans to reduce their cost for power. It's as simple as that."

Bachmann predicts Calgary homeowners will save up to $200 a year on their power bills in a competitive marketplace. He says energy suppliers will be fighting to sign up residential consumers, who make up 50 per cent of the Alberta market, and "prices have to go down."

Competition will also encourage the installation of highly- efficient, lower-cost new generation technologies, like gas turbines, to meet Alberta's growing demand for power. Bachmann says independent developers have plans on the drawing board now and can add capacity to the system in six months or less. The only thing preventing development is the definition of how and when competition will commence.

"If Bill 27 is passed, the impact will lead to investment and will enable a market to develop in this province," says Bachmann. "If it's held up, we'll have brown outs in this province."

IPPSA members agree that the value of existing generation should be returned to Alberta consumers, but to quibble over the 20-year time frame under which this will be accomplished is inappropriate, says Bachmann, who believes many of these plants may prove to be uneconomic by 2020.

"Nobody has a clear vision of what the market will be like 20 years. They don't know what kind of fuel technology is going to be in place, what kind of power technology," he says. "I truly believe that to hold up bill 27 to deal with something that may never happen is imprudent."