Guest Post written by JM
Early in the Muskrat Falls debate, an old friend of mine, who
worked at Newfoundland Hydro unequivocally stated: “the upfront costs for Hydro
are high, but they will come down over time”. This was a conventional argument for Hydro developments, but one not truly
applicable to the back-loaded Muskrat Falls model.
The prospect of long term stable rates was a key argument
used to convince the public of the benefits of the Muskrat Falls project. Its very allure may have been instrumental in maintaining popular support
for the initiative.
Conventional wisdom might well suggest hydro power would make
sense long term. Strangely though, in
spite of all Nalcor’s claims, the Crown Agency has never provided a comprehensible, consistent or detailed calculation of future electricity rates.
