Following a blistering review of the role provincial regulators had in overseeing the development of the Muskrat Falls (Lower Churchill Project) hydroelectric project and related transmission infrastructure, Newfoundland and Labrador is undertaking a review of the law that guides the Board of Commissioners of Public Utilities.
The 824-MW Muskrat Falls project was developed by a provincial government-owned entity, Nalcor Energy, that earlier this year was folded into another entity, Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro.
The Muskrat Falls project includes high-voltage, direct-current transmission lines linking the power plant in Labrador to the island of Newfoundland and another set of lines linking Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. It is largely complete but several years behind schedule and more than double initial cost estimates.
An inquiry released in March 2020 detailed numerous missteps in decision-making, including about the role of the regulator, known as the PUB. The provincial government in the first part of the 2010s largely cut the PUB out of reviewing the Muskrat Falls project, a provincial Commission of Inquiry, led by Justice Richard Leblanc, found.
Among the recommendations in Leblanc's six-volume report was: "The Public Utilities Board should review the proposed business case, reliability, cost and schedule of any large project that could potentially impact Newfoundland and Labrador electricity ratepayers. Following this review, the Public Utilities Board should report its findings to the government and the public."
On Nov. 18, John Hogan, Newfoundland and Labrador's attorney general and minister of justice and public safety, said the province would conduct a review of the Public Utilities Act, which among other things established the PUB.
"The Public Utilities Act is a key piece of regulatory legislation that affects many residents of the province so it is only prudent that we conduct a review to ensure it is working as intended," Hogan said in a news release. "This review is in no way a reflection of the work undertaken by the Public Utilities Board."
The review will begin in 2022. Any recommended changes would be made via legislative amendments to the existing law, which was first enacted in 1989 and has been amended several times since then.
