50 of 87 Alberta MLAs not listening

In Part One, we painted a bleak picture of unemployment. We all know that the economy is suffering and sadly many of us know someone who has been laid off. This week, more people will be let go by another of Alberta's energy companies.  

In Part Two, we tried to show our Premier and her ministers the advantages of delaying the new Carbon Tax on natural gas for 6 months.  If they do, this will help vulnerable consumers who are having difficulty paying their utility bill.

In Part Three of this series, we tried to show how consumers could actually offset the cost of the new tax on natural gas by taking advantage of today’s lower electricity prices. Want to save 10% to 30% or more on the cost of energy? While savings are never guaranteed, history proved that those who took our advice won! It is simple to switch providers and the delivery of energy will continue uninterrupted. If you don't look around for savings, you simply will continue to overpay.

Are MLAs listening? 

We know that many MLAs within our legislature are not listening to our opinions. Is it because we are labelled as representing an opposing view. Heck, 50 out of the 87 MLAs don’t even open the email messages we send them. 

A bit sad and scary, isn’t it. 

Today's technology allows us to monitor when messages are delivered and when or if the mail is opened. If the leaders of each party want to know who is listening or not - just ask and we can provide a detailed list of MLAs who never open our letters to them.

We are not alone with these type of questions. At the 2016 Alberta Climate Summit held this week in Calgary, the message from Eriel Deranger pictured below of the Athabasca First Nation was one of frustration that their voice was being marginalized.

She offered a down-to-earth perspective related to the stewardship of the environment and expressed frustration in this Government for not listening to their insights or recommendations. Eriel spoke with passion and I wonder how many MLAs were even at the Climate Summit Conference to hear her message?  Sadly very few.  

Why should our MLAs listen? Who the heck are we?  Just a little bit of noise on the sidelines! Whether or not the Government listens - it's their prerogative - and our input can simply be dismissed or likewise marginalized. We actually are OK with this. We know they are busy with more important things...and governing is a thankless job.

UTILITYnet generates cash for community initiatives  - without going to taxpayers for funds- by selling electricity, natural gas...and green energy

We tend to be vocal with what might be labelled as disruptive opinions. We often wonder if we should temper our comments with the fear of possibly being silenced by over zealous regulators. Will our business as a retailer of energy in Alberta be challenged by regressive policies that could possibly negatively impact our business in an attempt to close or slow us down? We are a private family company with millions of dollars of our own money invested in Alberta. Is our business at risk? This is a growing fear!

Yet, on a positive note, at least there are 20 or 30 MLAs who show an active interest and follow our blogs. With some level of comfort, confidence, and also worth acknowledging: one of our most active listeners and followers of this blog is Energy Minister Margaret McCuaig-Boyd. 

Should MLAs be listening? From a biased perspective, we think so. The momentum in the social media world is building and, in a complex business such as the energy sector, our MLAs might want to gain a better understanding of this industry. We are amazed. Since we started blogging over the last 8 months, we have achieved over 750 thousand page views on Facebook and LinkedIn plus 2.5 million twitter messages that are bouncing around the Internet. 

Who are we  besides being an Albertan with an opinion?  My partner, Madeline Low, and I own a company called UTILITYnet. It is a locally-based private energy management company founded in 1979, over 3 1/2 decades ago.  Even with a long history, probably very few people know anything about us because we don’t have sales people knocking on doors and we seldom advertise. Our customer base is composed of industrial clients, small business, residential retail customers, and farming co-op clients. Collectively, we have thousands upon thousands of customers in over 300 communities, all over Alberta. With a significant foothold in the Alberta market, we understand the complexities of the market from a load settlement, metering, hedging, operational services and a customer care retailer’s perspective. That said, we are void of political motivations. 

Albertans are talking to you. Please, listen to your constituents!  

UTILITYnet is one of the few companies in the province bucking the trend in employment. Since the birth of deregulation, we have grown from a staff of 2 to an employment base of over 65 full-time and part-time people now working in our industry, either for UTILITYnet directly or through the various Energy Marketing firms who are part of our network.  Even in today's downturn in the economy, we are continuing to invest in Alberta, expanding, and hiring.  

During 2011, we incubated the idea of regional Energy Markets and today there are 30 companies located all over Alberta in places like Camrose, Fort-Macleod, Vegreville, Grand Cache, Wainwright, Grand Prairie, to name a few communities that are selling electricity, natural gas as well as green energy. We believe in the Alberta Advantage.  Coming next month, we will be announcing the launch of 2 new Energy Marketers that we are sponsoring and working with behind-the- scene to get them up and running. One is being established as a local co-op in the Black Diamond area and the other focuses on Energy Efficiency and Price Protection strategies.

We created a different perspective on retailing. In addition to no-penalty contracts (if a customer ever wants to cancel or move), the retail concept is designed to support local communities. Not only are we focused on offering lower prices but we are trying to help create a difference in their communities. Two such Energy Marketers include Mountain View Power and Echo Energy run by the communities of Olds and Lacombe. This is a community sustainability program that generates cash for projects - without going to taxpayers - to fund various initiatives, such as building a water park for the kids out of the profits from selling electricity, natural gas...and green energy.

What makes us different? We didn't ship jobs offshore like Enmax, Direct and Atco. Our customer care team is here in Calgary not Guatemala. None of the systems we built are funded through rate riders charged by the utilities: 100% of the +$14 million we have invested in our company is out of our own pockets. There are no government grants for free rides. As such, we rely on our ingenuity, efficiency, and investment in new innovative new technologies to help keep our costs down. It's working.

There are scores of differences that you will discover. Throughout the network of Energy Marketers operating under the UTILITYnet umbrella, you find a special benefit for seniors and, if a customer commits to 15% green, we bundle this with a further discount on the price of energy (just to get people into the habit of buying green). And it's working.

On the profits earned from our Green Energy program, Green Alberta Energy created a private investment fund which is being used to pay Micro Generators a premium on the energy they export back onto the grid from their PV Solar systems. This is a privately funded Feed In Tariff. Not a government program. And yes, it is working.

We are proud to be working with a group of socially conscious Energy Marketers who are donating 10% of their gross income earned from the sale of electricity to Fort Mac. This was not just a one time donation but the commitment spans the calendar, from the date of the fire, and every month since, over the balance of 2016.  We hope it is helping.

In addition to our own corporate retail operations, UTILITYnet.ca & Spot Powerwho are part of the fund raising program, our hats go off to people and staff behind Bow Valley, Get Energy, Peace, Vector, Wainwright, Brighter Future, Choice, Camrose, Park and E.NRG. Thousands and thousands of dollars are going to the Red Cross and the Food Bank in Fort Mac.

While we differ with the ideology of the NDP on many things, we honestly share a common goal. Doing what is right for the consumer and investing in community ventures. It is our belief that, by working together, we can make a positive difference.  

Just ask yourself: "Why pay more." Remember the farmer in Hanna from blog no. 3 in this series? He paid 2.65 cents per kWh last month for electricity consumed from E.NRG compared to the other farmer up in Lac La Biche who paid 8.75 cents to his local REA. The difference in this case was about $70 per month. So, if the government wants to support and help consumers – please don’t mess around with the generators. Prices today have never been lower and consumers are benefiting.

Last, and most important, when the province kicked off their Climate Change strategy, we bought into the belief. We created GreenAlbertaEnergy.ca and, in 8 months, we have purchased and retired enough Green ECOLOGO certified Renewable Energy Certificates, equivalent to 15 ? million kWh. It is a good start. We focused on making “Going Green” affordable. Consumers have lots of choices to green their energy by voluntarily buying green. In addition to what we are doing, Enmax also implemented a green program this month, Epcor promotes Chirp, and ATCO also has a green offering. Consumers have a choice.

Madam Premier, it’s time to smile: We don’t envy the problems you and your Ministers are facing.  Here is a question for you:  ask all your MLAs how many have have opted to green their own energy for their homes or constituency offices.  Is your gang, doing their part?

We listened to your Minister Phillips this week and others at the Climate Change Summit. One thing that rang true: investment in technology, innovative thinking, and working out of the box is what is needed as we face the unknown future. Turning new ideas into commercially scaled realities has been the foundation of our company.

We hope our fears about over zealous regulators attempting to dampen our enthusiasm and put our investment in Alberta, at risk, will not be the result of holding differing opinions to your ideologies. To be honest with you, as a small private business in Alberta with everything on the line, it's one of our fears.

We know it’s important to work together in trying to solve the problems facing our province and families. It’s a massive job you have and are carrying the weight on your shoulders. We hope to see see a smile back on your face soon.  

Our recommendations:

• Continue with portions of the Climate Strategy. In the immediate term, focus on putting our tax dollars to work on the importance of Energy Efficiency programs which fall under the direction of Minister Phillips. These will help consumers cut emissions, invest in green, and save money on their monthly utility bill. (This will help stimulate local economy endeavors, support municipal programs, and start the process in positively address the health related issues.)
•  Delay the Carbon Tax on Natural Gas. Don’t cancel it. Just implement the tax on Natural Gas, when the timing is right.
• Don’t fall into the Ontario trap.  Once you start subsidizing green, we end up with higher energy prices. Just like those living in Ontario, we run the risk of suffering from energy poverty.  There are better solutions. 
•  Focus on creating new jobs. The economy cannot be fixed simply with the creation of 7200 jobs in the green energy sector spread over the next 14 years, as promoted by Minister McCuaig-Boyd in her September press release. Use today’s current low energy prices as one of the benefits in attracting new industries to our province.  
• Bring utility industry jobs back to Alberta. Try to convince three of the largest RRO providers in the province to do the right thing.  Bring the jobs that ENMAX, DIRECT & ATCO exported out of the province to companies in India back to Alberta. 

In a future blog: we will focus on how businesses in Alberta can cut their energy costs dramatically and invest in green at the same time: it is called "Self-Retailing".  And next week we will share with you a real positive "Green Story" from Red Deer.