Hydro-Québec CEO Michael Sabia assures that there is a “social pact” with Quebecers on the issue of electricity rates. In the foreseeable future, residential rates will never increase more than 3% per year and the increase in commercial bills will never exceed 5%, he assured Tuesday.
The bigwig of the state corporation did not wait for his appearance before the parliamentary committee in the middle of the morning to dot the i’s. In a short press scrum in front of the parliamentary media, he insisted on the need to keep electricity rates at “affordable” levels for Hydro-Québec customers.
“In my opinion, there is a social pact that is fundamental here in Quebec and that is to keep residential rates very low,” he stressed. For commercial, we are talking about “between 4% and 5%,” he added.
According to Mr. Sabia, all of this is “not new.” However, last week, while promising that the increase in residential bills would not exceed 3% annually as long as he is in power, Premier François Legault had suggested that the commercial sector could face annual jumps of up to 6%.
Minister Christine Fréchette began studying Bill 69 on Tuesday, “ensuring responsible governance of energy resources and amending various legislative provisions.” She took the opportunity to reiterate her leader’s promise regarding household rates, but declined to provide figures for the industry.
“Commercial and industrial rates will be […] established to reflect a fair price while providing predictability,” she said at the opening of the parliamentary committee.
Tabled in the spring by resigning elected official Pierre Fitzgibbon, Bill 69 provides for a host of measures aimed at increasing energy production and enabling Quebec to achieve its ambitious decarbonization objectives. It also provides the government with the legislative and regulatory tools to modulate electricity rates starting in 2026.
Before resigning last week, Mr Fitzgibbon even went so far as to say that “significant increases” would occur somewhere between 2029 and 2034.
Further details will follow.