AltaLink sale gets approval from Alberta Utilities Commission
The Alberta Utilities Commission has approved the sale of AltaLink to a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.
The American company is owned by Warren Buffet and has already received approval for the $3.2-billion deal from Industry Canada.
- READ | The Alberta Utilities Commission's decision on the sale of AltaLink
But not everyone is happy.
“Albertans paid for this infrastructure through their electricity bills and now it’s just going to be sold off to a foreign company that stands to make huge profits from it,” said Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley.
The party is calling on the ruling Progressive Conservatives to "step up and protect our province’s shared assets." It says assets are estimated at around $5.9 billion, and the company had profits of $107 million last year.
AltaLink is the province's largest regulated electricity transmission company. As part of the deal, Berkshire Hathaway will have to keep the company locally managed and keep a majority of its board of directors Canadians.
In its decision, the Alberta Utilities Commission stated it had approved the sale because it found "customers will be at least no worse off" after the transaction has been completed.
3 major public concerns
It says the letters of concern it received from the public focused on three themes:
- "Concerns over the sale to a foreign investor and the loss of control over Alberta transmission infrastructure."
- "Concerns over power being exported to the United States."
- "Concerns that power prices will rise and quality of service will deteriorate as a result of the sale."
The Alberta Utilities Commission responded to those concerns in its decision, stating that issues regarding foreign investment are outside of its scope of jurisdiction and instead fall to the federal government.
It said AltaLink does not buy and sell the electricity moved over its infrastructure, so Canada's exports of electricity would not be affected by the sale, and the National Energy Board oversees regulations around the exporting of electricity anyway.
The commission would continue to have regulatory oversight over AltaLink in regards to how it prices electricity and how it provides electricity to customers, regardless of who owns the company.
It also determined no additional costs will be imposed on customers because of the deal, and management of the company could actually be improved through the sharing of best practices.
According to the NDP, AltaLink delivers electricity to around 85 per cent of the province and owns more than half of Alberta’s transmission grid.
