City Notebook: City’s energy future as much psychological as it is financial

By Collin Gallant on December 7, 2024.

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The longest serving member of city council, Robert Dumanowski, has waxed philosophically at times during this term.

Once came in the middle of council controversy that’s dogged this term about stoking discontent with local government.

The most recent came Thursday at the beginning of what could become the controversy of the next year, and what could be this council’s defining point in the annals of city history.

Should the city’s 120-year-old power business be run by an arm’s length corporation, owned solely by the city, but outside control of council?

Council members all voted to explore the idea, though hard opinions are hard to come by. That’s maybe not surprising in the Hat; utilities are baked into our DNA and residents think council decides when the sun rises and sets.

Mark down maybe six of nine as “undecideds” at this point. They want more info.

Dumanowski, too, says, “The blue print is critical,” but also that a public utility is still a public utility, even if it’s behind the fence, so to speak, of a municipally controlled corporation.

As such it will also remain political, he said, and will all wind up back at council in either calls of complaint, or with proud fingers pointing to financial results.

“In some ways it’s an abdication,” he mused about hiring a board of directors to execute plans on profit expectations and general practice, rather than a city department.

“It’s like we’re handing a football to someone, telling them to figure it out. And then hand it back to us at the goal line.”

Councillors in Calgary will tell you they get it in the neck all the time over the decisions of Enmax, their MCC.

Local councillors have been proud to talk about the foresight of council decision making, offsetting taxes, building up booming reserves to offset the eventual busts.

Juxtapose that against the several elected officials now discussing how they aren’t particularly qualified to run a major utility.

Many in the public might agree, but the public should remember that operating a business with the requirements of a municipality has tied a hand behind the city’s back in the past.

The gas division has put millions into the orphan well fund. It is meant to clean up after bankrupt oil and gas companies, though the city could never legally go broke itself.

And, imagine a private sector CEO facing a shareholder revolt over making too much money. It happened here (and how!) in 2023, despite refunds that made power free of charge for a majority of homeowners.

The new south-side substation was a years-long political football match lost by the city’s power line company on questions of being a good neighbour with a unique exemption – something no one in the corporate world put up with for very long.

One can only guess how long the question of a Saamis Solar purchase will take to resolve.

Perhaps making the process apolitical as possible has merit.

“Easiest is not always the best,” replied Mayor Linnsie Clark to that direct question from the News this week.

Of course, the unique publicly owned business has had wins recently, beyond the $500 million in dividends since 2014.

It was a group of councillors that rammed home the power plant’s last two major expansions. The $60-million Unit 17 gas turbine was introduced to the public and passed at a single council meeting in mid-2020 and was sucking up money from the Alberta grid within 18 months.

Today, Hatters have waited one year for a report first proposed three years ago.

Can it afford another year, or another council term, before the power division gets its feet moving again?

A look ahead

Council won’t sit again until Dec. 16 when it takes up finalizing the next two-year-budget, but a city committee will dive back into the issue of public washroom availability in the city centre on Monday.

100 years ago

A variety of strawberry hearty enough to reverse ill-held opinions of local prairie growing conditions might be upon us, the News crowed on Dec. 12, 1924.

It was the dream of Hatter Hugh Hassard to breed such an all-season berry. After taste tasting at the News office, the plant, “burdened with blossoms” and a “double handful of fruit,” was placed in a display window for admiration of the public.

U.S. President Calvin Coolidge told congress he was “not disposed” to join the League of Nations, and the country should instead focus on domestic economy.

Canada’s population had increased by one-half million since the 1921 census to 9.23 million. Alberta’s estimated population of 637,000 was about 50,000 higher.

Gyles Lyons, 19, formerly of Burdett, pled guilty and was sentenced to life for killing a typewriter salesman near Great Falls.

The U.S. Tennis Association would distribute film reels of new “slowed motion” footage of its annual champions in competition to aid in instruction of playing form.

Collin Gallant covers city politics, a lot of power market issues, and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664 or via email at cgallant@medicinehatnews.com.

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