MLA for Drumheller-Stettler, Nate Horner ended 2020 on a high note by presenting a private member’s motion to the Alberta Legislature to give all Albertans a fair shake on their utility bills.
On December 14, Motion 515 passed unanimously. His motion was that “the Legislative Assembly urge the Government to work with electricity agencies and electric utilities to lower transmission and distribution costs for consumers.”
“Motion 515 is my attempt to address what I believe is a critical issue for Alberta, the egregiously high cost of transmission and distribution of electricity in this province,” he said in his address.
“Unaffordable electric bills hinder growth greatly and make our province less liveable to boot.”
Transmission and distribution costs have been a concern for Drumheller Town Council. Last spring Drumheller sponsored and passed a resolution at the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association. It read that “AUMA advocate for the Province to implement a modernized electrical system that has reasonable and predictable prices in order to support economic development throughout Alberta,” and further “AUMA advocate for the AUC to reduce the disparity in electricity pricing for transmission and distribution charges across the Province.”
Councillor Fred Makowecki was a proponent of the resolution and is grateful for Horner’s support on the issue.
“I am ecstatic it got explained even more,” Makowecki said. “Nate did an exceptional job and who knows where it is going to go. I know we are going to continue our efforts to mobilize other communities in our area of East Central Alberta and Northern Alberta who have the same provider with the same disparity in transmission costs and try to get more people on board with this.”
He says not only is this troublesome for residential consumers, but this puts regions with higher costs at a disadvantage for industry.
Horner said it is a lottery to get selected to present a private member’s motion. While the motion was accepted, it is not binding. Had it not been presented, it would have never been brought forward if the session closed.
“You have to get lucky to even get the opportunity. It was my first chance to direct the conversation in the house somewhere I wanted it to go. I knew right away, I wanted to make it about distribution charges. I settled along making it a non-partisan attempt to urge the government to focus on affordability for consumers, He said, adding he wanted to make it stronger.
“Originally I thought about making it more aggressive by maybe pushing government to equalize distribution across the province. I still think that is the policy choice, but I didn’t know if it would be well received by enough members of the house that it would have a chance at passing.”
He says this is a hot issue for constituents he hears about almost every week. He has not seen movement on this file during the previous government or the current government.
“The lack of seeing anything done on this file prompted me to go in this direction. I wouldn’t say it’s because the government is unaware or doesn’t care. It is very complicated, and there is no silver bullet.”