Hydro-Québec Ordered to Release 1967 Energy Records

Hydro-Québec has been ordered to release decades-old correspondence about a proposed aluminum smelter after losing a legal battle with a university professor over access to the documents, amid ongoing energy negotiations with Newfoundland and Labrador.

The provincially owned utility in Quebec withheld and redacted sections of 1967 records related to electricity discussions with a French aluminum company considering operations in Sept-Îles, Quebec. Associate professor Marie-Claude Prémont of the École nationale d'administration publique in Quebec City requested the documents in 2022 for historical research on Quebec's energy policies. When Hydro-Québec provided heavily censored versions, Prémont appealed to Quebec's access to information commission.

Hearings before adjudicator Normand Boucher began in late 2023. Hydro-Québec argued that disclosing the information could undermine its negotiations with Newfoundland and Labrador by revealing past pricing strategies and a letter of intent that led to the 1969 Churchill Falls hydroelectric contract. That agreement allows Hydro-Québec to purchase most of the plant's output, which supplies about 15 percent of Quebec's energy, at rates...