Officiel: Hydro-Québec achète Énergie NB

[ErickMontreal]

LOL, ma famille viennent de Charlottetown/IPE, je suis curieux d'entendre leur opinion.

 

Je ne sais pas trop si c'est représentatif mais les commentaires sur CBC vont te donner une bonne idée.. lol

[ErickMontreal]

NB Power union slams Hydro-Québec deal

 

Last Updated: Friday, November 13, 2009 | 8:50 PM AT

CBC News

Ross Galbraith, business manager of Local 37 of the IBEW, says NB Power members haven't been told how the deal with Hydro-Québec will affect their pension plan.Ross Galbraith, business manager of Local 37 of the IBEW, says NB Power members haven't been told how the deal with Hydro-Québec will affect their pension plan. (CBC)

 

The union representing 2,200 NB Power workers has come out against the sale of the utility to Hydro-Québec, citing pension plan concerns.

 

Local 37 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers has spent the last two weeks analyzing the proposed deal, said business manager Ross Galbraith.

 

But members continue to be left in the dark about their pension plan, he said.

 

'What we need to see is legal commitments, things that are hard and fast, that we know we can count on.'—Ross Galbraith, union business manager

 

"They've not received much in the way of communication, and the types of things we've gotten is not anything that is legally enforceable," Galbraith said.

 

"The problem is we can't just say `Well everything is going to be fine.' What we need to see is legal commitments, things that are hard and fast, that we know we can count on on a go-forward basis."

 

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) to sell most of NB Power to Hydro-Quebec states that existing union contracts will be respected, but a lawyer hired by the union says the word "respected" has no legal standing, Galbraith said.

Agreement unclear

 

"When you see the MOU, it says members will be offered employment. It doesn't say people will be seamlessly transferred with all their rights and benefits and the things that they've accrued. So the language is kind of unclear."

 

It's also unfair that current NB Power employees will remain in their existing pension fund, while new employees would come under an unspecified new plan, he said.

 

Energy Minister Jack Keir said he understands why the union is nervous, but he says the wording of the final contract, due to be signed by the end of March, will be iron-clad.

 

"Nothing's going to change for them in terms of their employment contracts, in terms of their collective rights and in terms of their pension plan moving forward in the province of New Brunswick," Keir said.

 

Under the proposed deal, announced Oct. 29, Hydro-Québec would take over most of New Brunswick's generating stations for $4.8 billion, which represents the equivalent of NB Power's debt, Premier Shawn Graham has said.

 

Hydro-Québec would promise to freeze residential power rates in New Brunswick for five years. During the same period, large industrial rates would be lowered to the power prices offered to similar customers in Quebec, but they would not be frozen. That component of the deal is worth an estimated $5 billion to NB Power customers, according to Graham.

 

The proposed sale of NB Power needs legislative approval before it can go ahead. The Progressive Conservatives have demanded an election over the issue and have promised to stall the legislation if there is no immediate campaign.

 

The Liberal government has said if the deal is delayed past March 31, NB Power's planned three per cent rate hike will go forward, instead of the rate freeze promised in the Hydro-Québec agreement.

_________________________________________________________________

 

Watch out for Point Lepreau

 

Published Saturday November 14th, 2009

D5

W.E. (Bill) Belliveau

 

Based on the feedback I have received and keeping tabs on the blogs, it would seem to me that about 75 per cent of New Brunswick residents oppose the sale of NB Power assets to Hydro Quebec. The other 25 per cent are either on the fence or support the sale.

 

Most of the opposition to the MOU/deal has an anti-Quebec and by implication an anti-French feeling to it. Danny Williams' rants continue to resonate because people are not familiar with the terms of the Newfoundland deal that was made by Joey Smallwood 40 years ago, probably one of the dumbest agreements ever signed by anybody, anywhere.

 

People ask me for my opinion on the NB Power deal. I tell them clearly that I support it but that the MOU has a few holes in it (more on that in a minute). They tell me they don't understand the terms of sale while admitting they have not read the MOU. They claim they want more information. They also tell me that they think the assets of NB Power must have more value than the $10 billion Hydro Quebec is offering. As I have said before, the value of an asset can only be determined by the price someone is willing to pay for it. To my knowledge, there are no other buyers for NB Power.

 

Furthermore, I'm told that an independent valuation of NB Power assets by an international banking group that specializes in mega corporate takeovers determined that NB Power's asset value is consistent with Hydro Quebec Hydro's offer to purchase.

 

Assuming the credibility of this valuation, there are at least four reasons to support the sale of NB Power's assets to Hydro Quebec:

 

1. We lose our $4.7 billion debt;

 

2. We benefit from a five year rate-freeze on residential rates;

 

3. Electricity from Hydro Quebec would reduce our carbon footprint; and

 

4. Our major industrials (resource and manufacturing businesses) would benefit from a 30 per cent rate reduction that will make them more competitive, preserve jobs and help grow the New Brunswick economy.

 

There are some loose ends in the MOU. I think they should be dealt with before an agreement is signed. The most important concern Point Lepreau, residential rates and purchase agreements with alternative energy suppliers.

 

My major concern is Lepreau. What happens if it can't be fixed or if cost overruns cause Hydro Quebec to back away from Lepreau? That would leave us with a huge debt, something in the order of $3 billion. In my opinion, any agreement with Hydro Quebec has to be accompanied by a guarantee of certification for Lepreau, delivered by AECL and backed by the federal government. With such guarantee, failure to gain certification would shift the burden of Lepreau's debt from NB Power to the federal government.

 

If we get stuck with Lepreau, we would only have half a deal with Hydro Quebec and we would be stuck with a mountain of debt. That is not good enough.

 

The good news is that replacement power from Hydro Quebec during the Lepreau shutdown will be considerably cheaper than alternative fossil fuel generation.

 

In respect to residential rates, I believe they have to be tied to rates charged to Quebec customers. As I mentioned in an earlier column, this could be as simple as 125 per cent of the Quebec residential rate. The other thing we might want to look at is contract rates in five year blocks, ad infinitum. Quebec could afford to do this because its costs are not subject to fuel price shocks and it could reasonably hedge against inflation.

 

My third concern is for the development of alternative and renewable energy forms like wind energy. There has to be something in the agreement that guarantees access to the grid for any New Brunswick based renewable energy production.

 

Guaranteeing power purchase agreements will be a little trickier because the cost of renewable alternatives, using conventional technology, is considerably higher than either the cost of Quebec hydro power or the cost of fossil fuel power generation. I would suggest that producers be guaranteed purchase of alternative energy at prices equal to the average of all power purchased by NB Power.

 

One final point -- people have this romantic notion that loss of ownership would somehow cost us the benefits of our beloved utility.

 

For example, Leopold Ouellet, an accountant in Northern New Brunswick describes "NB Power as the province's economic development engine" while opposing the sale of NB Power to Hydro Quebec.

 

NB Power, in its present configuration offers nothing to prospective developers except non-competitive power rates.

 

It will only become an economic development engine if we can find a way to complete the sale to Hydro Quebec and benefit from their competitive industrial rates.

 

* W.E. (Bill) Belliveau is a Shediac resident and Moncton business consultant. His column appears every Saturday. He can be contacted at bill.bellstrategic@nb.aibn.com

_________________________________________________________________

 

The only other option for NB Power

November 11th, 2009

44 comments

 

When I asked last week for people to put forward serious alternatives for NB Power that would keep rates competitive, orderly pay down debt and allow for the phasing out of oil/coal electricity generation, there were no takers. In fact, I haven’t heard any serious options in the wider media either.

 

So last week I asked three people that I know have had close dealings either with NB Power or energy policy in New Brunswick. All three concluded that the model NB Power was operating was unsustainable if the vision for the utility was as I outlined in the first paragraph. All three said NB Power could remain a stand alone utility for a number of years but rate increases would need to be well above average.

 

This observation is not a revelation. Electricity costs have gone up in New Brunswick since 2002 at twice the rate of overall inflation and the were projected to rise even faster until the government capped rate increases to 3%. That’s a nice card trick but, like Enbridge, you are just pushing those costs to future rate payers. If costs are increasing at 5% and you cap rate increases at 3%, somewhere down the road someone will have to pay the piper.

 

So I asked my panel (separately) to give me a serious alternative to the HQ deal.

 

All three said the likely outcome for NB Power would be a sale to Emera. Not now but in a few years when the situation was more desperate, the NB government would unload the utility to Emera as part of that company’s plan to be a large privately owned power utility in the Maritime Provinces and New England.

 

But Emera wouldn’t take NB Power’s debt - not all of it. The government would likely have to absorb at least a couple of billion of debt. In addition, there would be no rate freezes for residential or declines for industry.

 

The reality is that right now NB Power is in a relative position of strength. HQ wants to dramatically increase its U.S. business and could benefit from NB Power’s strategic position - and is willing to pay for it - to the tune of several billion dollars. If this deal is scuttled, NB Power will end up negotiating with potential suitors from a position of weakness and that could cost us billions. The point is that Emera doesn’t really see NB as a strategic channel to ship cheap hydro to the U.S. It has none - so it certainly won’t assign billions worth of value to the province.

 

I’ll close with this. Two of the three people I talked to said they were surprised that the government went through with the deal (MOU) because the political hit was going to be heavy no matter what. Even if you like the deal, one said, for a resident or business it is a bit like “kissing your sister” - even if you like it you would never admit it. Very few people are going to admit to like selling of NB Power to Hydro-Quebec even if they realize it is the best option out there.

 

http://davidwcampbell.com/

Modifié 14 novembre 2009 par ErickMontreal

[jesseps]

H-Q quite hungry. Who else is in their sites. Just imagine if they try and buy up stuff in Maine and New Hampshire LOL.

 

Quebec should just annex... New Brunswick and P.E.I and try and take over parts of Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire

[ErickMontreal]

Les opposants se manifestent

Mise à jour le mardi 17 novembre 2009 à 17 h 07

Commentez (18)

 

Des opposants à la vente de la société Énergie NB à Hydro-Québec manifestent à Fredericton mardi. Quelques centaines de personnes étaient déjà présentes lorsque la manifestation a commencé, à 11 h.

 

« Il me semble que c'est absolument à l'encontre de tout ce qu'il y a de sensé parce que c'est un pouvoir qu'on a pour la vie, et là, le vendre, c'est irréversible. C'est une situation qui sera irréversible, puis je pense que c'est assez évident que ce n'est pas la bonne chose à faire », affirme Hélène Lapointe, une manifestante.

 

Pat Roy, du Syndicat canadien des communications, de l'énergie et du papier, reconnaît que les grandes entreprises recevront de meilleurs tarifs si Hydro-Québec achète Énergie NB, mais il ne croit pas que ce soit la seule solution pour sauver les entreprises au bord de la faillite.

 

« On voit au Québec présentement des usines qui ferment aussi. Ont-ils l'électricité moins chère ou quoi? On se demande la même question ici. Est-ce que ça va les sauver? Non, ce n'est pas ça qui va les sauver », soutient Pat Roy.

 

Une première brèche semble même apparaître dans les rangs du gouvernement de Shawn Graham à ce sujet. Lors de la manifestation, le ministre du Développement social, Kelly Lamrock, a indiqué qu'il ne sait pas encore s'il va appuyer le projet de vente ou non.

 

Moi je vais le dire, moi je vais écouter. Je vais avoir quelques réunions publiques dans ma circonscription. Je vais voter avec ma conscience.

 

— Kelly Lamrock, ministre du Développement social

 

Les manifestants se sont donné rendez-vous dans la capitale à l'occasion de l'ouverture de la session de travaux législatifs. Ce projet de vente sera sans doute à l'avant-scène des débats au cours de cette session parlementaire. Il s'agit des derniers travaux législatifs avant les élections générales de 2010.

 

Des membres du Cabinet défendent l'entente

 

Les ministres du gouvernement libéral de Shawn Graham interviennent sur tous les fronts ces jours-ci pour défendre l'entente de principe conclue avec Hydro-Québec.

 

Le ministre des Finances, Greg Byrne, était devant des gens d'affaires de Grand-Sault, lundi. Son discours devait porter sur le prochain budget, mais il a plutôt été question de la vente d'Énergie NB.

 

Les piliers du gouvernement Graham multiplient les réunions avec des gens d'affaires et ils sont présents dans toutes les tribunes téléphoniques, mais le message livré n'est pas exactement le même partout.

 

Au sujet de la possibilité de modifier l'entente de principe sur la vente d'Énergie NB, le ministre de la Justice, Michael Murphy, disait ceci lors d'un débat enregistré la semaine dernière: « On doit avoir des débats et on doit recevoir des idées pour faire les améliorations. Ce n'est pas parfait, ce n'est pas fini et ce n'est pas un fait accompli. »

 

Le ministre d'Entreprise Nouveau-Brunswick, Victor Boudreau, semble toutefois écarter tout changement. « L'essentiel de cette entente-là est ce que nous avons besoin comme province pour aller de l'avant », dit-il.

 

Le député progressiste-conservateur Jeannot Volpé, ancien ministre de l'Énergie, dénonce le manque de cohérence des divers ministres qui défendent le projet de vente. « Ils essaient de vendre un produit sans le connaître, puis ils essaient de faire une propagande sans savoir ce qu'il y a dans l'entente », dit-il.

 

Le débat se transporte maintenant à l'Assemblée législative où le discours du Trône sera prononcé à 15 h.

 

Danny Williams cherche des appuis aux États-Unis......

 

Le premier ministre de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador, Danny Williams, a rencontré des gens d'affaires à New York pour leur expliquer son point de vue contre la vente d'Énergie NB.

 

Selon lui, si cette entente de principe entre en vigueur, cela signifie qu'Hydro-Québec contrôlera la transmission, la production, l'établissement des prix et la réglementation de toutes les lignes terrestres vers les États américains à l'est de l'Ontario.

Danny Williams

 

Le premier ministre Danny Williams a prononcé un discours à New York lundi.

 

Danny Williams a déclaré qu'il ne peut pas imaginer un pire scénario pour le nord-est des États-Unis. Il a soutenu que le monopole du marché par Hydro-Québec est de mauvais augure pour les consommateurs américains.

 

Danny Williams a aussi fait la promotion du projet hydroélectrique du bas Churchill, au Labrador. Il a dit aux New-Yorkais qu'il est dans leur intérêt que l'énergie du bas Churchill soit acheminée aux États-Unis. M. Williams estime qu'une plus grande concurrence au Canada procurera de meilleurs tarifs aux consommateurs américains.

[ErickMontreal]

Énergie Nouveau-Brunswick divise les provinces de l'Atlantique

 

Publié le 20 novembre 2009 à 14h48 | Mis à jour à 14h55

La Presse Canadienne

Churchill Falls, T-N-L

 

Les premiers ministres des provinces de l'Atlantique sont ressortis d'une rencontre, vendredi au Labrador, divisés par la vente d'Énergie Nouveau-Brunswick à Hydro-Québec.

 

Les premiers ministres de la Nouvelle-Écosse et de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador demandent à leur homologue du Nouveau-Brunswick, Shawn Graham, de garantir que leur province respective pourra continuer à exporter de l'électricité via le territoire néo-brunswickois.

 

M. Graham et le premier ministre terre-neuvien, Danny Williams, sont aux antipodes l'un de l'autre depuis que la vente d'Énergie Nouveau-Brunswick à Hydro-Québec a été annoncée il y a trois semaines.

 

M. Williams estime que cette transaction dotera le Québec d'un contrôle total sur les exportations d'électricité à destination du nord-est des États-Unis et empêcherait sa province de vendre l'hydroélectricité éventuellement produite par le projet du cours inférieur du fleuve Churchill - un argument que réfute M. Graham.

 

Après la rencontre, M. Williams et son homologue néo-écossais, Darrel Dexter, ont demandé à M. Graham une garantie écrite que leurs provinces pourront continuer à exporter de l'électricité via le Nouveau-Brunswick, si la vente d'Énergie Nouveau-Brunswick est finalisée.

 

M. Graham a refusé de prendre un tel engagement.

[jesseps]

There was a demonstration last night in front of Hydro around 5 pm. I have yet to see any information on the net about it All I saw was something about nuclear on a banner a few people were holding.

[Malek]

There was a demonstration last night in front of Hydro around 5 pm. I have yet to see any information on the net about it All I saw was something about nuclear on a banner a few people were holding.

 

It's the spontaneous Sunday afternoon demonstration from your "environmentalist" friends:rolleyes:

[jesseps]

It's the spontaneous Sunday afternoon demonstration from your "environmentalist" friends:rolleyes:

 

Ahh okay

[Habsfan]

J,ai lu dans LaPresse ce matin que rien n'était officel que le parti de M Graham n'est pas très populaire au N-B. Avec le chialage non-stop de Willams (P-M de Terre-Neuve) cette transaction me semble être loin d'une chose faite?

[qatzelok]

Je trouve ca ironique qu'il y a tant de chialage des neo-brunswickois du fait qu'une societe quebecoise a reussi a acheter leur societe d'electricite.

 

Est-ce que la confederation canadienne est une institution a sens-unique ou seulment les quebecois sont supposes de tout vendre aux anglophones d'ailleur? Ou est-ce que c'est au moins possible que le Quebec puissent reconquir le Canada anglophone? Est-ce que c'est au moins un possibilite? Est-ce que c'est au moins legal?

 

Si ce n'est pas acceptable que le Quebec puissent agrandir son affluence economique/politique dans le ROC, je ne comprends pas comment les souvereignistes ont perdu les 2 referendums sur le sujet.