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EDMONTON – Premier Rachel Notley has come out swinging in the high-stakes court battle over hundreds of millions of dollars in electricity contracts.

Notley, in a speech in Ottawa, says the province is going to court to stop power companies from trying to get, in her words, “a free ride.”

The province has launched a court action to stop power companies from returning up to $2 billion worth of contracts from coal-fired power plants.

Those costs could ultimately be borne by consumers.

The deals were signed over a decade ago as the province deregulated the industry.

Notley’s government wants part of the deals quashed, saying its own arm’s-length energy regulator broke the rules in 2000 by inserting broad escape clauses at the last minute.

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