Consumers beware, Alberta’s electricity prices are on the rise

By Nick Clark

We are now starting to see the effect of increased carbon tax coupled with the mothballing and retiring of coal plants, in particular Sundance 2 and 5 (390 and 406 MW market capacity) which are now offline. The market is increasingly exposed to supply shortages, especially when other generators trip offline and there is a shortage of wind generation.

Today, the inevitable happened.

When the wind doesn’t blow or the sun doesn’t shine, consumers can expect to experience higher retail prices.

Today, January 12, 2018, Battle River 5 (385 MW market capacity) went offline and at the same time, even though there is 1445 MW of wind generation capacity in Alberta, there was about 1% of the installed generation capacity actually generating power (producing less than 150 MW this morning when Battle River tripped offline). When there is no wind and generators are down, the power pool prices will spike; especially if just one other major generator in Alberta’s fleet goes offline at the same time. This begs the question: how reliable is the renewable energy policy of our government. Or, do we even care?

Prices were up above $800 per MW this morning when Battle River went offline.

Let’s put the above chart into perspective: The monthly power pool price averaged $22/MW during 2017. During the first 12 days of 2018, the average daily prices have increased by over 50%. $800 per MW equates to electricity prices for consumers of over 80 cents/kWh. Wholesale prices have not been running this high since 2015. The days of 3 cent/kWh electricity prices, which consumers have enjoyed over the last 2 years, have ended.

See Sandstone Energy’s retail prices compared to the government RRO below. The upward trend is obvious. When will the government will start subsidizing utilities to cap the RRO at 6.8 cents/kWh? How much will it cost?

Consumers can protect themselves by locking into a ‘price protected’ fixed rate. Fixed rates going out to January 1, 2021 are available in the mid 5 to 6 cents/kWh range. Shop and save.

Want a suggestion? Check out the newest energy plan on the market today. Free electricity for the first month. Low fixed rates. 100% of the profits earned by Sandstone Energy are donated to Calgary Public Library Foundation. This is a good news story. Green Energy Recs are available, pay less, protect your rates, and help support the public Library.