As Alberta heads to the polls next week, the cost of electricity here is as yet to be mentioned very much. Nothing said about the effect on the Alberta Advantage by paying the highest rates in Canada by more than 33 per cent.And, these rates are possibly headed higher as the costs of new proposed transmission projects are added to the bills, which include those for our schools and hospitals.Will that mean there will be some sort of budget trimming in those places as well?There is a simple solution to avoiding rising rates.Most of Alberta has both electricity service and natural gas service. Gas has approximately 10 times the heat content of electricity for the money.Forty per cent of the power generated in Alberta is from natural gas, which is used in electric stoves, clothes dryers, hot water tanks and hot tubs.By simply legislating a tax deduction for converting our stoves, dryers, etc. to natural gas, we would save the losses of burning the gas in generators to make power for those same items.Although these changes would take some time, demands on the electricity grid would stabilize around present rates, thus, negating some of the needs for grid expansion and the costs of that.Bob RobbleeRed Deer County
