HYDRO-QUEBEC IN HEARINGS FOR U.S. POWER EXPORTS
Hydro-Quebec, the provincially-owned
utility, said it is appearing this week before the National
Energy Board to defend its application to export about five
billion Canadian dlrs worth of electricity to the New England
states.
    The contract with the New England Power Pool was signed in
1985 and runs from 1990 to 1999. A spokesman for the Quebec
utility said hearings are normally held on major contracts up
to two years after the deal is signed.
    Hydro-Quebec, which last month agreed to sell 15 billion
dlrs worth of power to Maine starting in 1992, has to convince
the board the electricity is surplus to Canadian needs.
    Utilities in at least three Canadian provinces have said
they are opposing the New England deal. The Ontario and New
Brunswick utilities said they are objecting because
Hydro-Quebec did not offer them the electricity before going to
the New England Power Pool. New Brunswick said it is also
concerned that Hydro-Quebec is taking all the U.S. export
markets.
    Hydro-Quebec spokesman Maurice Hebert said several
provinces, including Newfoundland which wants to renogotiate a
power agreement with Quebec, routinely oppose the Quebec
utility's export contracts.
    Hebert said the National Energy Board has ordered changes
to contracts in the past but has always left the agreements
essentially intact.
    He said the utility was not prepared to comment on whether
it believed the board would call for substantial changes to the
agreement with New England.
    He said the hearings, which began today, will probably last
two or three days and a decision made in about two weeks.
    Hydro-Quebec has recently been trying to move from export
contracts for surplus energy to contracts for guaranteed
amounts of energy, such as the deal signed with Maine.
 Reuter
