Chamber wants members to direct its stance on MCC

By Collin Gallant on June 13, 2025.

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The Chamber of Commerce is asking members if the business lobby group should express a stance on a potential reorganization of the city’s power business under an arm’s length corporation.

The Chamber of Commerce of Southeast Alberta held an open house for business owners with energy division officials Monday, and on Thursday circulated a survey to gauge opinion in the city’s business community.

City council requested staff begin preparing information and analysis about creating a municipally controlled corporation to house the power plant and gas and power distribution units after a business review was tabled last fall.

In it, global business consulting firm KPMG, stated the business units will be challenged to modernize in a fast changing sector, but a more focused businesslike approach could better improve the chances at long-term stability and dividends to the city.

Such a move would require the city to hold a public hearing, now scheduled for June 24, and provide disclosure to residents, while a final decision would need to be made at a subsequent meeting of council.

Two events open to the general public were held over the past week, and formal presentations are also posted on the city’s website.

The chamber survey asks members to express their level of support or opposition to the move, list their reasons and state whether the chamber should formally support or oppose the plan.

Feedback will be received by the chamber until June 16, and members are also encouraged to take part in the city’s formal public hearing on the subject, set for June 24, staring at 4 p.m. at city council chambers.

Concern about cost

An hour-long webinar Wednesday with division officials is now available on the city’s YouTube channel and through the city’s Shape Your City website.

At it, staff detailed that the potential makeup of a board would ideally include Medicine Hat residents or those familiar with the city, but qualifications such as finance, engineering and industry-specific knowledge would likely result some in successful candidates coming from outside the city.

The local board would also require adequate compensation, stated energy division head Rochelle Pancoast, but not to the levels that Hatters may think when they compare private-sector utilities or other similar city companies.

“Larger MCCs” such as Enmax in Calgary and Epcor in Edmonton are multi-jurisdictional, said Pancoast.

“Our intent is to retain the exemption under (our existing franchise of the city, Redcliff and parts of Cypress County) and that limits our scope,” she said. “We aren’t going to be as big or sophisticated as an Enmax, so we won’t need to retain that (level) of staffing.”

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