Bentley defends payouts to Bruce Power

The Liberal government is being criticized for forcing Ontarians to pay millions of dollars to Bruce Power, after the company missed a deadline.

Electricity users had to pay an extra $35.8 million to the private nuclear power company, after it missed the deadline to re-start two reactors. Critics say the company shouldn’t have been paid after it missed the due date by three months.
Energy minister Chris Bentley defended the government’s decision, saying it wasn’t the company’s fault.

“The contract provided for a contract price for the reactors that were running. The contract also provided that if they did not meet the target date for bringing the other reactors on, they would suffer a penalty for the reactors that were otherwise running.”

“What the force majeure then provided was that they didn’t suffer a penalty for reactors that were running, the same way they were running, as effectively as they were running, delivering power that we were otherwise using around the grid.”

Bruce Power has maintained that it shouldn’t be blamed for missing the deadline. It says repairs for an undetectable defect on one of its generators caused the delays.

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