I want to start this with a disclaimer. I am not a journalist and I am entirely unequipped to research and present the facts of the situation. I'm writing this hoping to spark a conversation and possibly inspire a real journalist to report on it.
I am not a businessman, I have no background in accounting or finance so it is possible that I am missing something fundamental and I encourage anyone who knows better to let me know in the comments how I am misunderstanding the situation.
Energy New Brunswick (NB Power) was created in the 1920's, I think to had something to do with Canada's effort to provide provincially owned, reliable power grids to individual provinces as part of the war effort. this has nothing to do with the purpose of this rant, only to say that it is a well established, government owned (privately operated) corporation with ZERO competition in the industry.
If you only know one thing about Canada it is probably that it gets cold here in the winter, making it impossible for anyone to survive without a power hook-up during the coldest months of the year. Many people will use wood furnace heat but rarely is it it only source of heat in a household. It is also only available for home owners and comes with a higher home insurance premium.
I am not going to make this too long trying to explain all the ways the corporation has to ensure you pay on time and in full, I am only going to say that if it's not paid, it will be shut off, and if you fail to get it turned back on before winter sets in, you're shit out of luck. This is not the point of this, I only mention it to frame the main question.
so here's my question
How does a corporation with no competition and a customer base who's only choice is to pay or freeze to death end up 5 billion dollars in debt while continuing to lose hundreds of millions every year?
I can only assume it's corruption because I don't think my 10 yr old nephew could fuck things up this badly.
The residents of the province have paid higher taxes to bail them out, our energy costs go up steadily every year (while big industries like the Irving Oil corporation receive massive subsidies) and yet ENB continues to slip deeper into debt.
The options for the future seem to be to sell the power grid to either a privately owned corporation in the USA or to Hydro Quebec. On the surface I can see how the idea of passing the debt off to someone else is attractive but I feel uneasy about giving that kind of control to an outside influence.
Hydro Quebec for starters has been fined in the past for overcharging their customers and the entire province has threatened to leave our country multiple times just within in my life. If they were to control our power grid and if the separatists ever succeeded, New Brunswick would have no choice but to leave with them, and by extension the rest of the Atlantic provinces would be cut off from Canada without some sort of cooperation with Quebec. I already feel the province of Quebec holds an unequal amount of political power in the country compared to any other province (except Ontario) so I am reluctant to give them a life or death hold on our province in addition.
I can't remember the name of the US-owned company that put in a bid, it's not a big concern as I can't see it happening but I will say that given the past crimes and tactics that US corporations have used to bend the international community to their will, and their unwillingness to accept the reality of climate change, I fear the consequences of such a sale.
It is not lost of me that the ENB board of directors has ties to big energy consumers like saw mills, water utilities, food processing plants (Baxter, Neslte), ties to financial funds, energy consulting firms and even the development of a high voltage submarine line in eastern United States. Conflict of interest after conflict of interest. It's hard to believe that while ENB debt soars that these corporations are not benefiting from it. It would be interesting to take a close look into the cost breaks that those companies receive while the rest of the province foots the bill and looses control over the power grid that literally supports their lives.
Anyway, I'll ask again.
How does a corporation with no competition and a customer base who's only choice is to pay or freeze to death end up 5 billion dollars in debt while continuing to lose hundreds of millions every year?