The agreement between Hydro-Québec and Énergir, which encourages the conversion of buildings to dual energy but will ensure that the bills of the state-owned company’s customers are raised, has been strongly denounced by the opposition parties.
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“It’s like imposing a tax on green electricity to support the use of natural gas! “, imagined the PQ MP Sylvain Gaudreault, during an interview with The newspaper.
The Régie de l’énergie is looking into a project this week that aims to encourage gas heating users to turn more to dual energy and electricity in order to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
But in return, Hydro-Québec will pay compensation to its competitor of $400 million, a large part of which will be taken from the pockets of the state corporation’s customers.
“You have to remember that Énergir is listed as a major emitter on the Carbon Market, so that means that it will be reimbursed for its credits by Hydro customers, that doesn’t make sense,” thundered Mr. Gaudreault.
Unacceptable, says QS
“This project is totally unacceptable. We should ban natural gas, we should have a timetable for withdrawal, there we are perpetuating gas for several years, ”believes for her part the co-spokesperson of Québec Solidaire, Manon Massé.
Hydro-Quebec asserts on the contrary that the agreement minimizes the tariff impact, that it will make it possible to decarbonize the heating and to pass through the critical period of the winter peaks.
But this reasoning does not hold water, believes Normand Mousseau, full professor of physics at the University of Montreal.
“The winter peak represents 80 hours a year. We stop moving for 80 hours! Hydro should develop technologies to manage the peak, but no, we sit on an easy solution,” he believes.
Stunning says a specialist
The latter has just published a report that aims to decarbonize buildings in Quebec. These are responsible for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. Quebec wants to reduce GHGs in this sector by 50% by 2030.
“There are all kinds of smart ways to manage the winter peak. Hydro should be the locomotive and the strategy should be aligned with Quebec’s climate objectives. But no, Hydro says: we are going to fail, we are a mere spectator, we are going to support the failure, that overwhelms me”, affirms Mr. Mousseau.
Quebec claims to let the Régie “do its analysis” but believes that this is the best option. “The proposed partnership is one of the best solutions for reducing GHG emissions from buildings at the lowest cost,” indicated Geneviève Tremblay, press secretary to the Minister of Energy.
Hydro’s CEO, Sophie Brochu, is the former head of Gaz Métro, now Énergir. The newspaper reported last year that the boss had recused herself from all discussions with Énergir in order to guard against any appearance of conflict of interest.
Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com