Allegations that TransAlta Corp. manipulated Alberta power prices during the winter of 2010 and 2011 will go to a public hearing this summer in front of the province’s utilities regulator.
The Market Surveillance Administrator (MSA) – the province’s electricity market watchdog – alleges that TransAlta engaged in “anti-competitive conduct” in 2010 and 2011 by taking three coal-fired power plants off line on four cold days, during high-demand hours and in periods when other players in Alberta’s competitive power market were the least likely to be able to pick up the slack.
This, the administrator alleges, drove up electricity prices and allowed TransAlta to reap as much as $16-million in additional profits, a figure the company disputes.
Kelly Cryderman – Globe and Mail – May 16, 2014.
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