The privately-owned TransAlta Corp. says it will undertake an independent review after a regulator found it triggered outages at power plans to raise electricity rates in 2010 and 2011.
The regulator held hearings after a market surveillance administrator in the province of Alberta alleged the company manipulated the market by shutting coal-fired plants. This in turn drove up electricity rates when demand was high.
The regulator also found TransAlta breached a regulation by allowing its energy trader to use information about the shutdowns so the company could benefit in the market.
TransAlta’s CEO says the actions that led to the investigation stopped almost five years ago and that the company will “undertake an independent review of our practices to ensure…that our practices comply with the highest standards in Alberta.”
In some Canadian provinces, electrical utilities are state-owned. In others they are private corporations.
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