A former chair of the Public Utilities Board is critical of Newfoundland Power and its parent company for not speaking out against the Muskrat Falls project when doing so may have, at the very least, resulted in more public debate.

Andy Wells, who was chair at the time of sanction in December, 2012, had a bad feeling about the hydro project from the outset but was barred from the review process when then-Premier Kathy Dunderdale went directly to sanction after the PUB declined to endorse Muskrat by the government-imposed deadline.

Wells says he was in the company of utility executives in the early years and says they knew then that the project would be a bust. He says both Fortis and Newfoundland Power should have been more responsible.

He says the approximate 250,000 customers of Newfoundland Power are going to be the victims of Muskrat Falls and that the time for them to speak out was back in 2011 or 2012. He says for Stan Marshall (then CEO of Fortis) and Peter Alteen (CEO of NF Power) to come out against it now is deceitful.