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This article was published 29/9/2014 (2183 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The president of Manitoba Hydro has contradicted statements by the Selinger government that ratepayers will not foot the bill for an expensive new hydro transmission line, the Tories say.

Asked by a Conservative MLA at a committee meeting whether Manitobans would be on the hook for any portion of the $4.6 billion Bipole III project, hydro president Scott Thomson replied that they would.

"Yes they will, just like they pay for all of their other assets that are installed to serve their needs," he said, according to the official Hansard recording of the committee meeting.

The Selinger government has said that the province’s ratepayers won’t be on the hook for the cost of the transmission line, although Manitoba Hydro has built in the costs of its capital projects into future rate projections.

The provincial Tories are still stinging from NDP ads during the 2011 election accusing then-Progressive Conservative Leader Hugh McFadyen of lying about Bipole.

"Hugh McFadyen knows the Bipole will not cost taxpayers a single cent. It is paid for by international Hydro sales. Mr. McFadyen is making numbers up," said one NDP advertisement.

Months before the provincial election, Selinger, speaking to an NDP meeting, assured the party faithful that the full cost of the transmission line would be paid through exports.

"Who’s going to pay for the Bipole? The export customers pay for it. You build the cost into the price of the product when you sell it to your customer," he said at the time.

The Tories say Thomson’s statement to the Standing Committee on Crown Corporations Thursday validates their concerns.

They praised Thomson Monday "for the clarity he has provided Manitobans" on the issue and said they expect the same from the government.

"What the NDP has been falsely claiming is that all of these massive costs ... are going to be paid by our (export) customers," Tory Leader Brian Pallister told journalists. "What Mr. Thomson is telling us, quite honestly, is that Manitoba Hydro is owned by Manitobans and the costs ... have to be absorbed by Manitoba Hydro customers and owners...Not just export customers."

Stan Struthers, the minister responsible for Manitoba Hydro, said the main thing to keep in mind is everyone pays less for power when Manitoba Hydro exports into the U.S. market, something, he says, the Tories are against.

"We keep signing export contracts and we bring that money in to pay for investments like Bipole and generation stations," he said.

Asked whether the NDP has backpedalled on comments it made three years ago, Struthers responded: "No, I think we’ve always said that we’re going to do what has been done for decades in this province and that is sell into the export market and use that revenue to keep our rates the lowest in North America."