EDMONTON - Controversial legislation that will limit public debate on plans to erect billions of dollars worth of new power lines across Alberta is the latest twist in a saga that reads like a cheap detective novel.

Two years ago, Alberta's energy regulator was accused of spying on opponents of the power lines during public hearings.

As a result, Premier Ed Stelmach was forced to replace the head of the utilities commission. The regulator's head of security was forced to resign and the hearings were scuttled.

Joe Anglin, one of the founders of a grassroots protest movement against the power lines, says Bill 50 is the government's retribution after being embarrassed by the spying scandal.

But Energy Minister Mel Knight rejects this assertion, insisting that the legislation is unrelated to the spying in 2007.

"This is nothing about anything to do with the past," Knight said Wednesday in an interview. "This is about the future."

But Anglin says many Albertans believe the government is taking steps to ensure that people who oppose these massive power line projects have fewer public forums to state their concerns.

"Many people are very concerned about the loss of democracy and democratic rights," he said.

The legislation pushes aside the existing regulatory process and gives the government sweeping new powers to approve multibillion-dollar power line projects without the level of public input required in the past, said Anglin.

"That's why we call this the largest power grab in the history of a democracy," he said Wednesday in an interview. "These people don't know what they're talking about when it comes to electricity."

"They're in the dark, they're guessing that they're doing the right thing."

Alberta made a policy change several years ago that pushed the entire cost of new power lines onto consumers rather than continuing to split the costs equally between consumers and utilities.

This created a public outcry that has grown dramatically as the scope of these costs became clearer.

Anglin's group estimates that the average homeowner's utility bill will eventually increase by $20 per month to pay for the new power lines.

"So that will be the legacy of this legislation and people will remember that," he said.