Officials from the Central Alberta Rural Electrification Association appealed last week to Mountain View County council to not give support to a plan by FortisAlberta to run parallel distribution lines in the Eagle Hill area.“We're asking council not to allow Fortis to twin our line, this time or any other,” CAREA general manager Pat Bourne said during a delegation at Wednesday's council meeting.Bourne said the issue has ramifications for how Fortis does business with rural electrification associations across the province.“This is not just about Eagle Hill … this sets a precedent for all over our service area and other REAs as well.”While councillors did not give the CAREA delegation the assurance it sought, they did vote in favour of a motion by Div. 7 Coun. Paddy Munro to ensure the decision on twinning the powerlines is made by council.Copies of the motion were to be sent to Fortis and CAREA, and CAO Tony Martens said he would draft a new council policy.Fortis officials appeared before council's policies and priorities committee on Feb. 22, outlining a scheme to run three-phase power distribution lines parallel to existing CAREA lines in the Eagle Hill area. Fortis had asked CAREA to do the upgrade, but the cost had come back double the expected amount, prompting the “extraordinary solution,” Fortis officials told P&P.Addressing council Wednesday, Bourne said she learned about the line-twinning plan – and Fortis's stated concerns about the cost of the project – after being contacted by the Gazette following the previous week's P&P meeting.“I guess I was surprised to say the least they were looking at twinning the line,” she said.Providing council with a “complete and total breakdown” of CAREA's dealings with Fortis on the Eagle Hill project, Bourne summed up the problem, “Fortis did not consult with us, did not give us reasonable timelines.”CAREA obtained its quote from the same contractor Fortis was using on the job, Bourne said. “The costs are not out of line.”Other points raised by Bourne:• The 1997 agreement between CAREA and Fortis stipulates that the party requiring an upgrade will pay the other party to rebuild its facilities, and the agreement contains a dispute resolution process.• If Fortis builds the line CAREA must pay when new members connect to the line.• Fortis has indicated its intention to charge REAs an ongoing wheeling charge for use of the Fortis line, with Fortis proposing $7 million a year.“So what happens when this occurs is, as time goes by it's less cost-effective to service our customers,” Bourne said.Another reason Fortis wants to construct and own the system is to capitalize it, she said.“This means they receive a rate of return (currently nine per cent) on a portion of the capital and also recover the depreciation of the line. The rate of return goes back to their stockholders and together with depreciation is charged to all of their customers. This is a no-risk proposition for their stockholders and is at the cost of all Fortis customers on an ongoing basis built into their rates,” she said.CAREA chair Jim Towle predicted a refusal by the county would carry weight.“If you say no, you only want one line, they'll have to go back to central and respond to that,” Towle said.The prospect of twin power lines didn't appeal to at least one councillor.“This area has been gravely impacted by development. For whatever the reasons to have town services to further increase the visual impact on the area isn't what I would want to see as an individual,” Div. 1 Coun. Kevin Good said.
