The Coalition avenir Québec is trying to fix “a historic mistake” with its proposal to legislate to cap electricity rates after matching them to inflation, Liberal leader Dominique Anglade said Thursday.
Ms. Anglade recalled that it was the CAQ that had adopted a first bill, in December 2019, so that Hydro-Québec’s rate increases follow variations in the cost of living.
“It’s an aberration that is happening,” she said at a press briefing on Thursday. They made a historic mistake with the bill they decided to pass, a bill that everyone was criticizing. Everyone was against it except them. »
The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Jonatan Julien, announced on Wednesday that the government will table a bill by June to prevent any increase of more than 3%, as outlined last week by the Premier Francois Legault.
Ms. Anglade maintained that the government should return to the situation before matching Hydro-Québec’s rates to inflation. According to her, rate increases should be determined by the Régie de l’énergie.
“We need to have a Régie de l’énergie that is able to control the increase for consumers,” she said. It’s the only thing to do. Everything else, there, that’s a patch on the right, a patch to the left. »
According to the Liberal leader, the cap envisaged by the CAQ could harm Hydro-Québec’s exports abroad.
Politicization
PQ MP Sylvain Gaudreault, spokesperson for the energy file, deplored that the bill creates a politicization of rate increases.
“We have the eloquent demonstration of a government that has both political hands, politically speaking, in setting tariffs,” he said at a press briefing.
Québec solidaire MNA Manon Massé, responsible for the energy file, expressed her disappointment that the government opted for a cap rather than a freeze on Hydro-Québec rates.
“Changing the mechanism, it looks like we won’t have a very satisfactory one for the rest of things,” she said.
Without the intervention planned by the government, the rise in inflation suggests a 5% increase in electricity prices, from April 1, 2023.
Minister Julien affirmed that the government’s objective is to permanently limit increases to 3%.
A first increase of 2.6% in rates, since the adoption of the bill which matches them to the cost of living, will come into effect on April 1st.