The White Elephant March

The Saskatchewan NDP is rightly calling attention to a survey which seems to lay the groundwork for a decade of 8% SaskPower rate increases. But I have to wonder whether there's a more important problem than the projected increase in consumer prices.

The survey itself sets out short-term, mid-term and long-term phases extending out to 2030. But in only one (the short term from 2009-2014) is energy conservation even considered as an option - and even then it doesn't look like there's any actual intention to achieve any meaningful results. In fact, the projection over the entire time period includes demand increasing by an "unprecedented 2.9% per year", with no differentiation between the presence or absence of conservation measures in a particular phase.

Needless to say, there's plenty of reason to doubt that the Sask Party's projections are worth the napkins they're hastily scribbled on. And that goes doubly when there's such an obvious lack of either a rationale for projecting "unprecedented" increases in demand for power for a full decade, or any recognition that conservation strategies can reduce the need for future generation in the first place.

So why would the Wall government be eager to push such an incomplete and implausible scenario? Well, the end result of the scenario would involve the province needing to add more capacity by 2030 than it currently possesses. And that feeds nicely into the Sask Party's desire to push the province into MEGAPROJECTS!!! in order to meet that supposed demand.

Worry about the feasibility of "clean coal"? Pay attention to the dangers and unpopularity of relying on nuclear plants to generate two-thirds of our current power load? Why, with 3% annual growth, we can't even afford to think of such minor considerations! So let's put our tens of billions dollars down now, and watch the growth roll in!

If anything, it's remarkable that the plan at least recognizes that some price increases might be required, rather than entirely assuming away such unpleasantness. But the Sask Party's plan still seems to be predicated on the bare hope that unprecedented demand increases will result in a wider range of customers sharing the cost - which means that the price might actually be far higher if the growth assumptions are wrong. And that should offer ample reason for Saskatchewan citizens to push back against the Wall government's obsession with white elephants.