Manitoba Hydro denies privatization plans

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/12/2018 (1960 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Hydro is denying an allegation from the provincial NDP leader that a planned $3-million consulting contract has anything to do with privatizing part of its business.

It also says that the Opposition party has wrongly identified the area of the corporation that will be affected.

On Nov. 2, Hydro released a request for proposals for a review of its marketing and customer-service divisions.

It is the third multimillion-dollar consulting contract to be issued by either the corporation or the province into the utility’s affairs since the Progressive Conservatives took office in 2016.

On Friday, NDP Leader Wab Kinew said it appeared that the contract was designed to “pave the path towards privatizing part of the office and part of the back-end functions of Manitoba Hydro.”

He said it appeared that the Pallister government intended to privatize a portion of the Crown corporation, similar to what was done at BC Hydro under former B.C. Liberal premier Gordon Campbell. He also noted that Manitoba Hydro’s incoming president and CEO, Jay Grewal, worked at BC Hydro during that time and had gone on to play a prominent role with the private firm that took over the sold-off functions.

Bruce Owen, a Manitoba Hydro spokesman, categorically denied Friday that the same scenario is at play here.

“This is about hiring a consultant to come in and help us review our customer-service operations with the goal of improving efficiency, reducing costs and looking for new ways to focus on our primary mission of serving our customers,” he said in an email.

“This has nothing to do with privatization.”

Owen said Hydro formed a strategic transformation office to review its customer-service procedures and standards several months ago in an effort to enhance services.

“The establishment of this office, and the issuance of the (request for proposals to hire a consultant)… are not government initiatives, but ones developed by Manitoba Hydro as we look to be more efficient and serve our customers better each and every day,” he wrote.

He said the RFP closed Dec. 7 and the corporation is reviewing responses.

Owen also clarified that “marketing and customer service” referenced in the RFP is not part of Hydro’s “back-end” operations, but the business unit “that touches each Manitoban through delivery of safe and reliable energy and outage response.”

Marketing and customer service is responsible for corporate emergency management, customer billing, gas supply, the customer-service operations division (rural and Winnipeg), the engineering and construction division and the marketing and sales division, which includes major accounts, energy services and sales and market forecasts and research.

The operations of Manitoba Hydro, particularly its last two megaprojects — the Keeyask Generating Station and Bipole III transmission line — have been the focus of close scrutiny.

In addition to regular operational reviews by the Public Utilities Board of Manitoba, the corporation and the provincial government have shelled out millions of dollars for consultants.

Hydro paid Boston Consulting Group $4.2 million to examine its capital projects, such as Keeyask.

This fall, the province hired Campbell to conduct a major economic review of the Keeyask and Bipole projects. That review is expected to cost $2.5 million.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca