Quebec minister tables new bill to cap hydro rates with 2 days left in parliamentary session

Quebec Energy and Natural Resources Jonatan Julien tables a legislation modifying Hydro-Quebec tarification, on June 12, 2019 at the legislature in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Quebec City — Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonatan Julien tabled a bill Wednesday to cap Hydro-Quebec's rate increases, with 48 hours left in the parliamentary session.

Bill 43 "including a cap on the rate of indexation of electricity distribution rates" would correct the law that Julien himself had passed under a gag order in December 2019.

That law had had the effect of freezing electricity rates in 2020, only to have them rise with inflation. The minister had also exempted Hydro-Quebec from an annual review by the Régie de l'énergie.

But Julien was recently forced to acknowledge that Quebecers are facing runaway inflation, a situation that is "exceptional, cyclical," he said.

Predicting a hydro rate increase of "4 to 5 per cent" in 2023, he pledged to legislate to limit it to 3 per cent.

Bill 43, introduced Wednesday, proposed instead that the increase be based on the lower of inflation or the "upper limit of the Bank of Canada's inflation control range."

That rate has not exceeded 3 per cent for more than 20 years, according to Julien.

"I committed to capping Hydro-Quebec's rate increases in order to limit the impact of inflation, and that is what I am doing today," he said on his Facebook page.

We are taking exceptional measures to deal with an exceptional situation.

"Our government is sensitive to the rising cost of living for Quebecers, and once again, we are demonstrating our willingness to support them," he added.

Although the piece of legislation has only nine articles, there is a good chance that it will not be passed this session due to time constraints.

This shows that the issue of hydro rates is "obviously not a priority" for Premier François Legault's Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), according to the Liberal opposition.

"We will have understood what he will present during the election campaign. We will propose to freeze the rates; they will propose to limit the increases," said MNA André Fortin in the Salon bleu Wednesday.

The co-spokesperson of Québec solidaire (QS), Manon Massé, agreed.

"François Legault wants to go into the election with a better record, but no one will fall for it. Capping hydro rates is like putting a plaster on a broken leg," Massé said.

"What people need right now to make ends meet is a freeze on hydro rates as proposed by QS."

In the meantime, "people are suffering from inflation," said Parti Québécois (PQ) finance critic Martin Ouellet, who deplored the CAQ's "terrible lack of vision."

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on June 8, 2022.