Central Maine Plans to Buy $15 Billion Of Electricity From Quebec-Owned Firm
Central Maine Power Co. said it signed a letter of intent to buy substantial amounts of electricity from Hydro-Quebec beginning in 1992, both for its own use and for resale to other utilities.</br></br>Hydro-Quebec estimated the total value of the proposed sale at $15 billion (Canadian) over its 29-year duration. It said the proposal calls for the delivery of a total of 122 billion kilowatt hours of electricity.</br></br>If completed, the contract would be among the largest power-sales agreements negotiated by the provincially owned electric company, which has been aggressively marketing its electricity for export.</br></br>Under the proposal, Hydro-Quebec would deliver 400,000 kilowatts of power to Central Maine beginning in 1992, and Central Maine would sell half of that to other utilities. Deliveries would increase to 600,000 kilowatts in 1995 and to 900,000 in 2000.</br></br>Central Maine said the average price of the electricity will be about 9.5 cents a kilowatt-hour, subject to adjustments for inflation. Unlike the terms of some earlier Hydro-Quebec sales, the price of the power won't vary directly with changes in the price of oil. The agreement anticipates firm supplies of power as opposed to power supplies that might be cut off if Quebec needed them.