PEI delays rate hike
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND - The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission is delaying a controversial plan to change electricity rates for large residential customers to allow for more public consultation.
Maritime Electric was planning a new scheme of power rates that will eliminate the two-tier residential rate system, which gives lower rates to customers who consume a lot of electricity.
That price change was scheduled for April 1 and it would have dramatically increased electricity costs for hundreds of Island farmers.
Both Energy Minister Richard Brown and the Prince Edward Island Federation of Agriculture spoke out against the move.
The agriculture federation said the change would have pushed their electrical costs up 25 to 30 per cent.
Maritime Electric asked the regulatory board to delay the policy change, so there could be more public consultation.
The policy change was approved by the board back in 2008.
At that time, IRAC approved a Maritime Electric request to eliminate the two-tiered pricing system to customers who used large amounts of electricity. It was to be phased out over three years, and completely eliminated this April.
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"There's still a lot of groundwork that needs to be done before we get building but you know we're a lot closer today with this signing," Jeremy Norman told reporters Friday.
Norman's community was assisted by the First Nations Power Authority (FNPA), a non-profit that helps First Nations get into the power sector.
The agreement signed Friday says SaskPower will explore the possibility of buying 20…
