New deal

An excerpt from a St. John's Telegram report by Jamie Baker, from October 24, 2006:

Premier Danny Williams is rejecting an Iron Ore Company of Canada's (IOC) call for continued access to cheap power, even going as far as to compare the company's proposal to the infamous Upper Churchill contract.

Williams said the company wants to continue a longstanding agreement with the province to buy its power at a rate of .5 cents per kilowatt.

"The half-cent, from our perspective, it's a renewal of a deal that's very similar to the Upper Churchill contract," Williams told The Telegram Monday, suggesting the company is "virtually getting their power for nothing."

The existing contract was struck when Churchill Falls was being built.

IOC agreed to shut down its Twin Falls generating station on the condition that the province would provide an equivalent amount of power for the company at an equivalent price.

That contract expires in 2014.

Williams said the power rates in that deal are outdated and any new deal with IOC would have to be more in line with existing energy markets.

He said the standard industrial rate for the province was about 6.5 cents; the residential rate for island customers is approximately 12 cents; and the rate for recalled power would be some four cents.

Quaere: what price is Alderon looking to pay?