End confusion on hydro rates

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/02/2025 (296 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the summer of 2023, when Manitoba’s New Democrats were still in opposition, they warned that the (then) Progressive Conservative government was planning to implement surge pricing for electricity provided by Manitoba Hydro.

Manitoba Hydro had just released an “energy road map” that included attracting investment to expand the power grid, attracting green industries, and providing incentives — including smart meters that make surge pricing possible — to encourage Manitobans to use less power during peak times.

Under a surge pricing system, Hydro customers would be charged a higher rate during times of the day when electricity is in high demand, and lower rates when demand is lower.

In response to the Tories’ plan, NDP Hydro critic Adrien Sala said that “The PCs’ surge pricing plan is a tax on your energy when you need it most — on the coldest days and the coldest nights — and it means Manitobans will pay even more to heat their homes if Heather Stefanson is re-elected.”

NDP Leader Wab Kinew added that “We all know the cost of everything is going up these days, but your hydro bill doesn’t have to. With the Manitoba advantage — cheap, publicly owned clean energy — your bills should stay low.”

Nineteen months later, the NDP are now running the Manitoba government and Manitoba Hydro, and Kinew and Sala appear to have experienced something of a conversion on the issue of surge pricing.

Manitoba Hydro has commissioned a polling company to solicit Manitobans’ views on potential measures that could be implemented to address the growing demand for electricity and the Crown corporation’s aging infrastructure.

The poll asks respondents if they would be willing to pay an additional $9 per month, as an average residential customer, to maintain the reliability of Hydro infrastructure. It warns that the investment is necessary in order to avoid a “decrease in reliability” and the possibility of “more or longer power outages in coming years.”

The survey also asks respondents if they are willing to switch their use of large appliances to evenings or weekends if it means saving money on monthly electrical bills. That’s an indirect way of asking if respondents favour surge pricing, and whether they would be willing to confine the bulk of their electricity consumption to nights and weekends.

Sala, who is now the minister responsible for Manitoba Hydro, says his government plans to follow its “Affordable Energy Plan,” which was released last September, and will “explore opt-in demand management and innovative, new options to keep energy bills low.”

Buried in the fine print of that plan is this sentence: “We will help Manitobans use energy at the right time through opt-in demand management options like innovative discounted rates and advanced metering infrastructure, to help provide new ways to save on their energy bills.”

The government was signalling its intention to implement surge pricing last fall, in vague language few would understand, and now Manitoba Hydro is having a polling company find out if Manitobans are willing to go along with their plan.

That’s a staggering reversal in the NDP’s position on surge pricing, compared to what they were saying mere weeks before the 2023 provincial election.

Given the impact that the pricing strategy and the $9 monthly surcharge would have on the lives of ordinary Manitobans — imagine how it will affect those who rely on electric heat and hot water tanks — the government has an obligation to clearly explain why they have changed their position.

With the strategy calling for higher rates to be charged during certain hours, the NDP must also explain how the implementation of a surge pricing scheme can be reconciled with their hydro rate freeze commitment and their promise to keep rates low.

Beyond that, they must also be frank with Manitobans about the impact surge pricing would have on businesses, many of which operate primarily during times of peak hydro demand, and how higher rates could affect jobs and prices.

Manitobans have every reason to be confused over how the government is managing Manitoba Hydro, and whether their hydro bills will be going up, down or staying the same. After all, the government is paying for billboards that proclaim a hydro rate freeze that has not been approved by the Public Utilities Board while, at the same time, Manitoba Hydro is looking for creative new ways to raise its revenue.

One of these things is not like the other. It’s time for the government to end the confusing contradictions. It’s time for some honesty over the future of Manitoba Hydro and how it will impact our hydro bills.