Sask. NDP alleges SaskPower hiding coal plant refurbishment costs

The Sask. NDP says it’s being blocked from full details on coal plant refurbishment costs, alleging major redactions and a wide cost gap. Wayne Mantyka reports.

The Saskatchewan NDP is accusing SaskPower of withholding information about the cost of refurbishing coal-fired power plants in Estevan and Coronach.

NDP MLA Aleana Young held up what she described as a blank page of redacted material she received in response to a recent Freedom of Information request related to the project.

“We have another tranche of blacked-out documents from SaskPower,” Young said.

The Crown corporation initially estimated the capital cost of refurbishing the coal-fired power plants at just under $1 billion. That estimate was later revised to $2.6 billion.

The NDP says leaked SaskPower documents suggest the final cost could be substantially higher.

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“Closer to the $11.4 billion capital cost contained in the leaked SaskPower board documents,” Young said.

The Opposition also alleges SaskPower is taking steps to prevent additional information from being disclosed.

“I heard there is a bit of a witch hunt taking place at the moment. I heard there are efforts being made to stymie further leaks, document tracing, watermarking all sorts of documents and files within SaskPower. I think this speaks to an organization that’s under siege,” said Young.

SaskPower did not respond to the NDP’s latest allegations. In previous comments regarding leaked internal documents, the utility said it regularly considers a variety of scenarios and options.

SaskPower has maintained internal planning documents should not be interpreted as government direction or official policy.