The province’s consumer advocate says there are ways to reduce expenses in our electrical system to help with rate mitigation.

Hearings by the Public Utilities Board begin October 3.

Dennis Browne says Newfoundland Power’s capital budget is just under $100-million while Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro’s is in excess of $100-million. He would like to see the total capital budget for the two utilities cut in about half which would knock about a cent to a cent-and-a-half off the rate.

The advocate says Newfoundland Power’s system is overbuilt.

Browne says if shingles blow off a roof, most people would first try to just replace the shingles in that spot. But Newfoundland Power will replace the whole roof. He says it’s in their interest to do so because the expenditure then goes into the capital budget which affects their rate base and, ultimately, their rate of return.

Similarly, if the line between the Holiday Inn and Confederation Building went, Hydro would replace only that segment while NF Power would replace the line all the way to the Health Sciences.