EDMONTON — Regulated utility ATCO Electric has agreed to pay a $31 million administrative penalty after an Alberta Utilities Commission investigation found it deliberately overpaid a First Nation group for work on a new transmission line, and then failed to disclose the reasons for it when it applied to be reimbursed by ratepayers for the extra cost.
An agreed statement of facts contained in a settlement agreement between ATCO Electric Ltd. and the commission’s enforcement staff says the company sole-sourced a contract in 2018 for work that was necessary for an electric transmission line to Jasper, Alta.
The company that won the contract was co-owned by the Simpcw First Nation in Barriere, B.C. and the agreement says one of the reasons for the sole-sourcing was that another of Calgary-based ATCO’s subsidiaries had a prior deal with the First Nation for infrastructure projects that included the provision of work camps on the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project.
The statement of facts says ATCO Electric feared that if it didn’t grant the contract to the First Nation group and instead put the work to tender, the group might back out of its deal with ATCO Structures and Logistics and partner with another, non-ATCO company on the Trans Mountain work.
The agreed statement says ATCO Electric paid several million dollars more than market value for some of the Jasper line work, and staff attempted to conceal the reasons for the overpayment when they sought to recover the extra money from Alberta consumers.
It states the investigation was sparked by a whistleblower, and notes the agreement between the utility commission’s enforcement staff and ATCO Electric must still be approved by the Alberta Utilities Commission.
The commission must be satisfied the settlement is in the public interest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 18, 2022.
Rob Drinkwater, The Canadian Press
- 0079 Ministry of Energy Business_incentive PO0079 Ministry of Energy Business_incentive PO
- 0078 LHOS 20240078 LHOS 2024
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0073 SaskWorks-Pipeline Online0073 SaskWorks-Pipeline Online
- 0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0058 Royal Helium Steveville opens anonymous rocket0058 Royal Helium Steveville opens anonymous rocket
- 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0011
- 0006 JK Junior
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001