Alberta Utilities Commission investigators want probe of ATCO
BNN Bloomberg
Investigators at the Alberta Utilities Commission are asking the regulator to look into what they say is illegal behaviour by one of the province's largest and most prominent homegrown companies.
EDMONTON — Investigators at the Alberta Utilities Commission are asking the regulator to look into what they say is illegal behaviour by one of the province's largest and most prominent homegrown companies.
They allege ATCO Electric deliberately overpaid a British Columbia First Nation by millions for work on a new transmission line in order to secure lucrative contracts providing construction camps for the Trans Mountain Expansion oil pipeline project.
ATCO then tried to pass that overpayment on to Alberta consumers, says a public document from the commission's enforcement branch on its website.
The document also alleges company management was aware the arrangement was questionable and tried to cover its tracks.
"ATCO Electric has violated (its) fundamental duty of honesty and candour to its regulator — the duty upon which the entire regulatory system relies to function efficiently and effectively," says the document filed Nov. 29.
Company president Melanie Bayley says ATCO — a global $22-billion business based in Calgary, with recognized expertise in electricity transmission and logistics — went astray.
