A consultant for the Public Utilities Board is recommending restructuring at Nalcor and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro.

Liberty Consulting was the first to appear at the rate mitigation hearings Thursday.

It says combining the entity which operates the power supply system from Labrador with Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro would save millions of dollars.

Over 100 positions would disappear at annual savings of about $13-million in the early years and $21-million later on.

Liberty says Nalcor and Hydro are top-heavy with way more executives than any other Crown corporation in Canada. Company president John Antonuk says they’re not even in the ballpark.

Antonuk also says customers of Hydro and NL Power are paying over $50-million in HST. Without mitigation, Liberty estimates that electricity would cost more than twice as much as it does now by 2039. He says the HST is a substantial block of money which could be used to lower electricity rates.

Nalcor, Hydro Have More Executives Than Any Crown Corp in Canada: Liberty Consulting

Nalcor disputes the finding, and questions Liberty Consulting’s methodology and conclusions, but Liberty assures that there is nothing wrong with their practices.

They’re one of two consultants scheduled to appear before the rate mitigation hearings.

Would mean $13-M yr in savings initially; $31-M eventually pic.twitter.com/XcTXdRimv1

— Brian Madore (@bmadorevocm) October 3, 2019

Liberty president Jim Antonuk says even with recommended cuts, Nalcor would still have more executive resources than other Crown corporations in Canada. He says they counted them the right way, measured them the right way, and compared them the right way.

Without rate mitigation, Liberty estimates that electricity would cost 29 cents per kWh by 2039. We currently pay less than half that.