'It's broken': Smith urges Albertans to get off of 'misnamed' regulated rate option power

Alberta's premier says anyone who can ditch the regulated rate option (RRO) for electricity should do so, while her government works on ways to help people struggling with high utility bills.

Alberta's premier says anyone who can ditch the regulated rate option (RRO) for electricity should do so, while her government works on ways to help people struggling with high utility bills.

Danielle Smith told reporters in Edmonton Thursday that while she loves the province's free market in generation and retail of power, "regulated" distribution and transmission is "not working very well."

"If you look at your power bill, that's one of things that has escalated the most," she said.

"The regulated rate option is misnamed. It's not regulated and it is not a protection for consumers. And there are a lot of people who are getting really hurt by that because they think they're protected because it's a regulated rate, and it is the most volatile rate."

This month, the RRO hit 28 cents-per-kilowatt-hour, while fixed rates are about half of that.

Still, about 35 per cent of Alberta households are on the RRO.

Smith said many of those people are seniors, renters, students, and people with little to no credit who are being hurt by a bad system.