The cost of power to Soldiers Pond has come up in the second day of public sessions in the Board of Commissioners of Public Utilities (PUB) Muskrat Falls review.
The question of how much power will cost at Soldiers Pond, near Holyrood, following construction under the Muskrat Falls development plan, was raised in a formal Request For Information from the Consumer Advocate (CA RFI, #27) prior to the PUB’s current public hearings.
The response to that question began: “The requested analysis does not assist consideration of the Reference Question (put to the PUB to answer in their review).”
Interim Liberal leader Dwight Ball asked for the cost of Muskrat Falls power to Soldiers Pond both during and after the radio debate on the project on VOCM Feb. 8.
This morning, Consumer Advocate Thomas Johnson raised the question again.
Counsel for Nalcor Energy interjected following Johnson’s question this morning, saying there had been a response to the initial RFI, but that response is being revised.
“There seems to be a lot of curiosity about the issue,” lawyer Thomas O’Reilly said.
He added the revised answer to the question is expected to be provided to the PUB and Consumer Advocate “some time today.”
Meanwhile, PUB counsel Maureen Greene has taken over questioning Nalcor staff on details of Muskrat Falls project from the Consumer Advocate, who closed his questioning by saying he would collect together all questions from the public to submit to Nalcor for their records.
The PUB public hearings can be viewed live.
As of 4:55 p.m. today, the revised response from Nalcor is available on the PUB website. More in Wednesday's print edition.
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The report did not state that there would be 50% cost over runs. At this phase of any project the level of accuracy of an estimate is normally only about 40% or 50%. That's perfectly normal! Particularly for a project of this magnitude. The estimate should also include a hefty contingency for scope growth. Stop looking for issues where they don't exist. It is not a reasonable expectation and is not a requirement to educate the entire public on how capital projects are managed! There's no secret agenda here!