By: Nigel Bankes
PDF Version: The Regulatory Treatment of Stranded Assets in Alberta
Case Commented On: Fortis Alberta Inc v Alberta (Utilities Commission), 2015 ABCA 295
The Court of Appeal has now handed down its unanimous decision on the appeal of the Alberta Utilities Commission’s (AUC) decision known as the Utility Asset Disposition (UAD) Decision in which the AUC endeavoured to provide guidance to both electric and natural gas utilities as to the implications of the Supreme Court of Canada’s majority decision in Stores Block, ATCO Gas and Pipeline Ltd v Alberta (Energy and Utilities Board), 2006 SCC 4. I posted on the AUC’s decision here. The Court, in a reserved judgment written by Justice Myra Paperny (Justices Rowbotham and Watson concurring), declined to interfere with the AUC’s decision. In its judgment, the Court of Appeal emphasized that Stores Block and its progeny (see below) were still good law in Alberta. Furthermore, even though other jurisdictions had been able to distinguish Stores Block based upon the language of their utility statutes, or to confine it to its particular facts and circumstances, that was not possible in Alberta. Indeed, the jurisprudential record suggested (Fortis at para 74) that the Court of Appeal in Alberta had not taken a narrow and restrictive approach to Stores Block but had instead “applied the principles set out in that case more broadly”. As a result (Fortis at para 76):
The Commission, and this Court, are bound by Stores Block and the subsequent decisions from this Court. Only legislative amendment, reconsideration, or a reversal of Stores Block by the Supreme Court of Canada can change that.
For ease of reference the Stores Block progeny are as follows: ATCO Gas & Pipelines Ltd v Alberta (Energy & Utilities Board), 2008 ABCA 200 (CanLII), 433 AR 183 (Carbon), ATCO Gas & Pipelines Ltd v Alberta (Energy & Utilities Board), 2009 ABCA 171 (CanLII), 454 AR 176 (Harvest Hills), ATCO Gas & Pipelines Ltd v Alberta (Utilities Commission), 2009 ABCA 246 (CanLII), 464 AR 275 (Salt Caverns I), ATCO Gas & Pipelines Ltd v Alberta (Utilities Commission), 2014 ABCA 28 (CanLII), 566 AR 323 (Salt Caverns II).