To understand why this deal looks so bad we must understand why it looks so good to Graham:
-Selling NB Power knocks out a huge portion of NB debt making him look like a fiscal conservative.
-It increases the province's credit rating from its downward spiral after the Graham government stopped paying down the provincial debt faster than they spent. (Moody's downgraded us in late August as our Debt to Revenue ratio is going up to 150% compared to 109% in early 2009. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=afzm7ohRqwF0)
-It allows the province to borrow upto another $4.5Billion for social programs without our overall debt load changing much.
-Stops the Graham government from looking bad by having utility rates go up in the short term, nor having to raise taxes to spend on ever increasing education and healthcare costs. Since we as a province will be servicing less in debt payments, more can be spent on healthcare and education. (What should be done is pay down the debt, but that's neither here nor there.)
-It stops the Graham administration from having to get tough in negotiations with public sector unions because there is only so much money in the provincial coffers. Not having to service some of that NB Power debt really changes the game.
-Graham looks like an environmental hero for having us source almost all our energy from hydro with the thermal plants being closed in the next few years.

To say this is a bad deal because big business gets a better deal than residential customers is a straw man argument. Why this is a bad deal is the following:
-We will still have higher electricity rates than residents of Quebec even after the buyout. Being treated as second class citizens is not right.
-This is one public corporation buying out another. It isn't right that HQ plans on profiteering from NB electricity customers. We should pay the same rate as their Quebec clients. A public corporation is supposed to run in the public's best interest, this is far from the case for NB.
-We will see no increase in efficiency by cutting back or consolidation of NB Power staff with HQ, rather jobs are being kept to keep some people from rioting.
-Rates after 5 years are pegged to the NB Consumer Price Index plus the cost of new generation. Meaning, will pay extra for any costs associated with the Lepreau refurbishment. This means, 20 years from now, when Mactaquac needs that $2Billion refurbishment that Graham says we will not be taking the risk on by selling HQ is false. We will still see an increase in our bill even if HQ owns the plant. There is no benefit here.
-Industry after a few years may have their own separate rate from what Quebec industrial rates are.
-NB Still takes on all the risk of cost overruns with the Lepreau refurbishment and hands over the plant to Hydro Quebec. Our provincial debt will increase, not HQ's debt, if there is some other delay with the Lepreau refurbishment.
-NB is still liable for any costs associated with environmental remediation and decommissioning of the thermal plants on a whim of HQ's.
-We will be locked in to sell any power from those plants if and when HQ wants for a fixed price. Remember, a large base load plant like Coleson takes three days to turn back on, meaning even if Quebec doesn't want to buy power from those plants some days of the week, we still have to keep them on and generating their minimum load. Sure HQ pays for any fuel used for running those plants, but NB still pays for the maintenance, which unto itself is a huge amount.
-Our transmission lines are worth much more than we're getting right now from Hydro Quebec. It shouldn't be valuation by liability but by income.
-NB still pays for any debts associated with all of the NB Power corporations not tied to the generation plants bought.
-Losing 40% of our debt is no guarantee for this or future governments to stop running deficit budgets. It may very well be $4.5Billion of NB Power debt is replaced by debt spending in other places.

Overview of Stimulus Spending On Broadband

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act), also known as the Stimulus Bill enacted on February 17, 2009, provides $7.2 billion^[2] for broadband infrastructure projects in the U.S. These funds will be distributed by two federal government agencies:

• Department of Commerce (DoC) through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for disbursement of $4.7 billion;
• Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) for disbursement of $2.5 billion

The Recovery Act is intended to create jobs by providing a timely, targeted and temporary stimulus to the economy, thus the funds are expected to move quickly. There is a preference for “shovel-ready” projects and a goal of distributing at least 50% of funds for infrastructure activities across all sectors that can begin within 120 days from the date of enactment.

Both NTIA and RUS programs will fund 80% of the eligible broadband projects and the applicant is required to fund the remaining 20%. NTIA and RUS assert that they will take a comprehensive approach, coordinating their broadband programs along with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Contact us for your infrastructure equipment.  You need it, we probably have it.  Save on taxes and buy from a Canadian:)

Matt

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