(Quebec) The Legault government will intervene to prevent an increase in electricity rates of 4 to 5% next year, a consequence of the adoption under gag order of its law 34, which linked the Hydro-Quebec bill to the ‘inflation.
Posted at 2:55 p.m.
“We did not foresee that there could be inflation of up to 4-5%. We will correct the situation, ”promised the Prime Minister in a press scrum on Tuesday.
His government has been on the grill of the opposition parties since inflation started to climb. Indeed, Quebec passed a law in December 2019 that puts an end to an annual review by the Régie de l’énergie that authorizes Hydro-Québec rate increases, against the advice of consumer protection groups, representatives of industrialists and experts in the field of energy.
Quebec then believed that inflation was a stable and predictable indicator on which it could anchor electricity rates. But the pandemic has changed the situation, pleaded Mr. Legault. “There is a special situation,” he said in the chamber. ” 1er April 2023, there could be a 4% to 5% increase. I want to reassure: we are going to set up a mechanism, but we will not let the rates increase by 4 or 5%. It’s the opposite of what we want to do,” he said. He wants to “compensate Quebecers”.
The opposition parties, on the other hand, speak more of a lack of vision. Liberal leader Dominique Anglade asks him to step back, and bring back the annual review of the management. She points out that her party had raised the red flag during the study of the legislative document, and that the Legault government had ignored the possibility of a significant increase in the cost of living.
His colleague Marc Tanguay denounced the arbitrary situation: there is no amendment in the law which says that “the PM will perhaps intervene by sending a check”, he quipped.