Alberta NDP Leadership Candidate Kathleen Ganley is pledging, as Premier, to take action to stop sky-high electricity bills by restricting practices used by generators to drive up their profits.
“It’s price-gouging, plain and simple,” Ganley said. “Power companies are making record profits and everyday Albertans are paying triple or even quadruple what they did five years ago to keep the lights on in their home.
“This is because of a practice known as economic withholding. Because certain large electricity generators have so much power in the market, they can bid their electricity in at exorbitant prices knowing that the system will have to purchase some of it. Those costs are then passed onto people.”
“Our current system makes this perfectly legal — the UCP have done nothing to limit it or change it. Companies are in the business of making profit and that is exactly what they’re doing. Government should be in the business of protecting people, but the UCP can’t be bothered.”
If elected Premier, Ganley said she would limit the profits that companies are permitted to generate by overpricing their power.
“I believe the economy should work for people and people are telling me every day they can’t pay these massive power bills,” Ganley said. “I will step in to protect people and end the price-gouging.”
Ganley noted the UCP has tried to blame renewables for rising power prices, demonstrating they either don’t understand the electricity market or are willing to lie to Albertans for their own political purposes.