VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - New Brunswick said it would make an "energy related" announcement on Thursday, amid a report that the Atlantic coast province had struck a deal to sell its electric utility.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corp reported on Wednesday that Hydro Quebec, one of North America's biggest power utilities and an exporter to the United States, had agreed to take over New Brunswick Power. The CBC did not identify the source of its information.
The New Brunswick government said in a press advisory on Wednesday that an "energy-related" announcement would be made on Thursday in the provincial capital of Fredericton.
The advisory gave no other details, but said the event would be attended by New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham and Quebec Premier Jean Charest, plus the chief executives of both provincially owned utilities.
Hydro-Quebec declined comment to Reuters on the report, but drew attention to the advisory from the New Brunswick government. A representative of NB Power was not available for comment.
The neighboring provinces were close to a C$10 billion ($9.3 billion) deal involving Hydro-Quebec's takeover of key assets of the debt-laden New Brunswick utility, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported last Saturday.
The proposed deal has drawn fire from the province of Newfoundland & Labrador, which has accused Quebec for years of unfairly profiting from export power sales from the Upper Churchill hydro facility in Labrador.
Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams released a letter to Graham on Wednesday warning that he might raise anti-competitive concerns if the deal meant Hydro Quebec can use its expanded market position to limit Newfoundland's power exports.
(Reporting by Nicole Mordant, Allan Dowd; Editing by Toni Reinhold)
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