Alberta Utilities Commission investigators want probe of ATCO dealings on TMX camps
CBC
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 First Nation in British Columbia 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.
"There's no doubt that there were mistakes here," she told The Canadian Press on Tuesday.
But she said the problem is rooted in an attempt to build capacity among the Simpcw First Nation in Barriere, B.C.
The document says the commission's investigation focused on information provided by a company whistleblower into transactions between the Simpcw and two ATCO subsidiaries. It says ATCO Electric signed a contract with a company controlled by Simpcw for work on a transmission line the company was building into Jasper, Alta., in 2018.
Investigators say the value of that sole-source, non-bid contract was at least 30 per cent higher than its market value, adding more than $12 million to its cost. That amount was later tacked on to ATCO's request for a raise in the rates it charges consumers,says the document.
Simpcw took the money and subcontracted the work, as the document says ATCO suspected it would.
Commission investigators allege in the document that ATCO Electric issued the overpriced contract because it believed it would be crucial to a deal for another ATCO subsidiary, ATCO Structures and Logistics. That company had signed a joint venture with Simpcw and helps run three camps for the TMX project on Simpcw traditional territory, a contract the document says is worth up to $100 million.
"To give effect to the joint venture agreement and secure financial benefits for (ATCO Structures and Logistics) ... ATCO Electric sole-sourced the matting services for the Jasper Interconnection project," the document says.
"ATCO Electric admits that Simpcw 'were threatening to back out of the (Joint Venture Agreement) should ATCO Electric not award the contract to them.' This, in turn, would result in (ATCO) losing camp contracts for the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project."
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