Dire circumstances would reverse deregulation: Klein

EDMONTON - - Alberta Premier Ralph Klein said recently it's possible his government could one day abandon electricity deregulation if it finds the system is failing utterly.

"Perhaps," Klein said, "I'll draw a line in the sand and say, 'You know, this thing is not working.'"

But the premier insisted the entire system would have to unravel before his government would reverse deregulation.

"It would have to be a complete and absolute collapse of everything. There would have to be brownouts all over the place, and people would have to be paying an atrocious price for no power at all.

"Things have got to become pretty, pretty messed up. And I'm not convinced they are messed up. I'm not even considering it right now because I want to see how all these things unfold."

Klein noted that rate riders are coming off electricity bills in the new year. He said it would turn the whole industry "topsy-turvy" to go back to a regulated market. The deregulated system has worked well in some instances, he said, and has brought new power generation online.

Klein's government has been bombarded with criticism about high prices and the confusion surrounding electricity costs. Last month, delegates at the conference of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties voted nearly unanimously to call on the Conservatives to abandon and reverse electricity deregulation.

On Monday, Liberal energy critic Hugh MacDonald said the sooner Klein recognizes that deregulation has been a mistake, the sooner the province can start creating a sensible electricity distribution system that puts consumers first.

"Are we going to wait for a brownout in the middle of the winter here and have the province freeze up before the premier is going to realize that his ideology is wrong?" MacDonald asked.