D7

Eric Lewis

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Some news stories only affect or interest a small number of people. Others affect a whole lot of us. And some affect every single one of us.

Right now, we've got a few of those. The H1N1 story affects everyone on the continent and beyond.

The potential sale of NB Power affects each and every one of us New Brunswickers, for good or bad.

And which is it? Good or bad?

I don't know. I'm not sure if anyone does at this point.

Even the most casual of observers have to be a little miffed at the way this whole thing went down. It was like a surprise birthday party that you weren't sure you wanted in the first place: SURPRISE! We're going to sell your public utility!

Did you know we had put NB Power on the market? Maybe a few hundred thousand of us just didn't get the memo on that one earlier this year. Perhaps the e-mail system was down that day.

I realize of course that a lot of political wheeling and dealing must be talked about quietly at first, and once there is some real meat to them, they can be made public.

But this was shrouded in secrecy while rumours were heating up, and one day there was suddenly a monumental announcement for all in the province: NB Power is up for sale.

Is it good or bad?

Will it really save us money?

Will we retain our freedom, or will Hydro-Québec take that away?

The government is saying it's great, we're all going to love it and things are only going to get better.

But they've said that before, and they've had to reverse several decisions when public outcry could simply not be ignored any longer.

I was a little excited at hearing repeated messages that this deal would save each of us lowly taxpayers some of our hard-earned money. But then it was made clear that our power bills wouldn't be lowered, they just wouldn't be raised again for five years.

Depends on how you spin it, I guess, but that doesn't add up to 'savings' to me. I already know how much I'm spending, and I budget accordingly. While I'm happy things won't be raised again any time soon, 'savings' would make me believe that I'm going to be able to budget for a smaller power bill, which isn't the case.

In essence, for us regular folk looking at our power bills, things aren't going to get worse, but they're not going to get any better either.

Status quo, as they say. Well, as George Carlin so eloquently put it, "The status quo sucks."

Our bills have been climbing and climbing for years. Any chance we can get them lowered just a bit?

This potential deal with Hydro-Québec sounds kind of like those deals phone and cable companies try to sell you: you'll pay a low rate of X amount of dollars per month for the first year!

Well, that sounds great, but I'm a little uncomfortable with the big question of, "What will I be paying next year?" Or in this case, five years time.

I don't want to hear that things aren't going to get worse. I want to hear that they're going to get better.

And why can't they?

According to one story we published in the last week, utility rates in Quebec are among the lowest in Canada, primarily due to its abundance of hydro-electric power.

A May 2009 comparison from Manitoba Hydro showed that an average household in Montreal is billed about 6.9 cents per kilowatt hour, while the same family in Moncton pays 11.63 cents, nearly double.

If Hydro-Québec is going to run things in New Brunswick, why can't our bills drop, even a little bit?

And who's to say what will happen in five years time? Rates will be tied to the cost of living index, but that doesn't tell us now what we'll be paying then.

Am I being pessimistic?

Probably.

Maybe I'm worried over nothing. But this deal rose from the shadows with little warning, it's a big step and it's one that should be well thought out.

I certainly hope that it does benefit us all, but it's a huge decision that raises many concerns, and I suspect it'll be another great big shift the government wants us to buy into that is going to be a tough pill for many to swallow.

***

A note from the cats in our household:

Cat Rescue Maritimes (CA-R-MA) will be selling tickets on a gift basket at Champlain Place Shopping Centre this Saturday. The basket includes one night for two in a suite at the Crystal Palace Ramada Hotel, breakfast for two, a one-year subscription to the Times & Transcript and more.

Money raised from the sale will be used to cover veterinarian bills from the many surgeries done to fix up cats that CA-R-MA rescues.

Tickets are $2 each or three tickets for $5. The basket will be raffled off later this year.

* City Views appears daily, written by various members of our staff. Eric Lewis is a reporter with the Times & Transcript. His column appears every Wednesday.