New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham says taxpayers in his province will save thousands of dollars thanks to a deal that will see Hydro-Quebec acquire most of NB Power's assets.

Graham and Quebec Premier Jean Charest signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday that lays the groundwork for the massive, $4.75-billion acquisition.

Graham says that the deal will enable the New Brunswick utility to pay off its debt, while boosting Hydro-Quebec's capacity to sell electricity south of the border.

"That's what was driving that deal today," Graham told CTV News Channel Thursday evening.

"Frankly, never in my wildest dreams did I think that we could achieve a deal of this magnitude."

Meanwhile, Charest said the purchase would "provide Quebec with a strategic geographic position with regards to the markets of Atlantic Canada and New England."

Under its terms, NB Power's transmission lines, offices and most of its generation facilities, including the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant, would change hands.

"The elimination of NB Power's massive debt will help us attain self-sufficiency and relieve our children and grandchildren of this burden," Graham said earlier in the day.

"Homeowners will see rates much lower than under the status quo, and we will now share Quebec's competitive industrial rates."

New Brunswick would receive new power rates as part of the sale. Residential rates would be frozen for five years. Industrial rates would drop to match those in Quebec. Together that could save New Brunswick as much as $5 billion. The sale must be given the green light by federal authorities.

However, other Maritime leaders have been critical of the pending sale. Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams expressed his concerns earlier this week in a letter to Graham.

"I have great fears and reservations about the stranglehold that Hydro-Quebec could put in place over the Atlantic region," Williams wrote.

"Our province feels compelled to look into the potential of anti-competitive behaviour on the part of Hydro-Quebec given the potential monopoly that could exist as the result of an agreement between them and NB Power."

Williams has accused Hydro-Quebec of trying to block his plans to develop two hydroelectric projects on the Churchill River to produce electricity for sale to the United States.

He has also charged that the Quebec utility took an excessive share of profits from an existing Churchill Falls hydroelectric project in Labrador, under a 1969 contract.

But Graham has assured Williams that Newfoundland and Labrador would be allowed to use New Brunswick's transmission lines to sell hydroelectric power to the U.S. Charest said he supports an open market for the use of transmission lines and wouldn't interfere with other provinces using them to route their power to the U.S.

Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter has also criticized the proposed deal.

"There's a difference between promoting Maritime interests and selling Maritime interests," Dexter said earlier this week.

Graham has said there will be time for public debate over the sale before it's finalized in March 2010.

With files from The Canadian Press