Shares of Belco’s parent company dropped as much as 5 per cent on Monday and are trading near a decade low just months after the company said it would be unloading renewable assets in an effort to fix its business and reassure concerned shareholders.

The drop also comes just days after the local subsidiary said that it would be dramatically upping the fuel adjustment rate, angering local residents already upset at the utility for its pollution-spewing stacks and for its inability to keep the power on when wind speeds get anywhere near 50 knots.

Toronto-listed Algonquin Power & Utilities has lost $1 billion in market capitalisation over the past month and has lost almost two thirds of its value since peaking in 2022.

The company is loaded down with $8 billion of debt and reported a $253.2 million loss attributable to shareholders in the second quarter of 2023 as it has struggled with high costs, high rates and a deterioration in the business environment.

In July, New York’s Starboard Value, which has 7.5 per cent of Algonquin’s shares and is the company’s largest shareholder, sent a letter to the board of directors saying that debt is too high and that the company needed to sell assets.

The investor proposed the disposal of the company’s Renewable Energy Group and possibly its water utility but did not call for the sale of traditional power assets.

In Early August, the company said it would be unloading its renewables business in line with the demands from Starboard Value. The company also announced that a director would be taking over as interim CEO as a search for a new leader was initiated.

Since then, the stock has steadily declined as analysts poured cold water on the plan, saying that the renewable assets may not command a good price in the market.

In early September, the company insisted that no announcement had been made about the possible sale of non-renewable assets such as Belco.

In the 2019 annual report of Ascendant, the former parent of Belco, the utility reported $19.0 million of net earnings. This was the last full-year report before the group was taken private in the acquisition by Algonquin.

In the 2020 half-year report, the company said that the utility’s performance was better than in the first six months of the previous year.