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Albertans can blame the previous Tory government for increased transmission costs on their power bills, says the premier.

Rachel Notley pointed the finger at Ed Stelmach’s Progressive Conservative government for overbuilding Alberta’s power grid, but didn’t explain how her NDP government plans to address the problem.

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She said the PC government knew its process of approving transmission infrastructure “was going to significantly increase costs for consumers,” so the fact that’s now happening is predictable.

“That will have an impact on consumers’ bills, but people need to understand that was a very definitive decision made by the previous Conservative government, knowing full well at the time what the impact was, because we debated it at lengths in the legislature,” she told reporters last week.

Notley noted the NDP fought against a decision by the PC government to give cabinet the power to approve critical infrastructure projects without public hearings to determine whether they were needed.

A coalition of consumer groups has warned “unprecedented” increases in transmission costs are unsustainable, and an energy consultant has called for a comprehensive review of electricity transmission.