How do you know when a politician’s lying?
When you see his/her lips move.
Bill Bennett, the BC Hydro point man in the government, tells us that there will be a 28% increase in Hydro charges over the next few years, which NDP critic John Horgan says will raise a family’s costs by $300 dollars annually.
The NDP sent out a fundraising plea last week “to fund our work to protect British Columbians from these gigant rate hikes.” Simply campaigning to kill the increases without getting to the root of the matter will do nothing to solve the problem long-term, as our independent economist Erik Andersen has explained in these pages.
Mr. Bennett didn’t tell the whole truth about the need for this rate increase and Horgan, who talks about the obvious impact this will have on families, doesn’t seem to want to go to root of the matter. I will get to that in a moment. First, an obvious question which doesn’t get raised much if at all.
Bleeding Hydro still pays dividends to Liberal Govt
With all its financial woes, BC Hydro still pays a dividend to the government. How can a corporation bleeding to death financially pay a dividend?
The answer is – are you ready for this? – The cost is passed onto us, the beleaguered ratepayer/taxpayer. What is happening is simple – the government takes the dividend that can only be paid by a Hydro rate increase. So, the government steals from our pocket then makes up the theft by raising rates!
The real reason for Hydro’s financial woes
Let me spell it out – these hikes have very little to do with upgrades and everything to do with rank fraud perpetuated by the Campbell/Clark government and placed on the shoulders of BC Hydro, then passed on to us!
Let me pause for a moment to observe that this sleight of hand is indeed happening and raise Mair’s Axiom I to the forefront: “You make a serious mistake in thinking that those in charge know what the hell they’re doing.”
Now the grand theft, entirely unmentioned by the mainstream media.
Here’s the skinny. In 2003 the Campbell government took away BC Hydro’s right to generate any new energy (except Site “C”) and all new energy must be created by private power companies.
(As we go on here, remember Mair’s Axiom I.)
For the most part, private companies – the so-called “run of river” projects – produce the majority of their power during the Spring run-off, just when Hydro has full reservoirs and has no need of private energy.
Well, then, I guess BC Hydro simply doesn’t buy energy from these companies, right?
Wrong! And remember Mair’s Axiom I as we proceed.
BC’s private power sham
These private companies have “take or pay clauses”, which means that Hydro must pay for this unwanted and unneeded energy!
Ah! You say, Hydro would be able to get this power cheaply, right?
Wrong. Remember Axiom I – they must pay 2-3 times the market price and about 10x what they can make it for themselves!
What are the consequences from this for Hydro?
Over the next 20-40 years they will have to shell out over $50 BILLION dollars to these private companies, somewhere between $1.5 and $2 BILLION per year for power that don’t need and must pay at least double its worth. Note, that these private contracts, by all accounts, are indexed to increase over time, so that they are protected from the marketplace.
Now the scandals: Bill Bennett is shielding this $50 BILLION from his reasons for Hydro increases – and for reasons I can’t fathom, the NDP critic, John Horgan, isn’t talking about it.
“You make a big mistake…”
Jordan, we live in a democracy, which soemmites means that pesky citizens get in the way of economic development projects they oppose. Sometimes this even impacts people in other provinces.Do you think over-riding the will of the people always equates to what the best interests of the country are or just in this instance? Canadians all across the country, when polled, supported the Government of British Columbia’s five conditions to be met for pipeline approval at a rate of over 70%. In BC is was 85%.I’m quite comfortable with the idea that in a democracy, government derives its legitimacy from the will of the governed. If the Conservative Party of Canada wishes to call a national election campaign on the Enbridge issue to gain a mandate to force the project through against BCs wishes, then I encourage them to do so.
I can’t believe how much miss information is being bantered around out there concerning BC Hydro rate hikes. when I was 5 years old (1968) I remember being told that we were paying 5 cents/kW hour. Today we are paying 8 cents/kw hour. I have spent the last 8 years both designing and IPP’s and working on BC Hydro’s systems replacing equipment that has been in service since the early 1960’s. We are at a point where these systems need to be upgraded and replaced. BC Hydro’s systems built in the 50’s and 60’s and the revenues they have generated for the government (dividends) have built schools, hospitals, roads and numerous other services used by BC rate payers. It is now time to re-invest in those systems to ensure future generations benefit from this public utility in the same way we have. If the nay-Sayers of the day had their way, BC Hydro and the rates and services we have enjoyed for the past 40 years would not exist today.
Any one who has travelled through the North knows that the forest industry, lifeblood for numerous communities and economic engine for the province, has
been dessimated. The North West Transmission Line from Terrace North up Highway 37 is a public investment to get mining going up in the North to provide economic opportunity to those communities that have been hardest hit by the collapse of the forestry industry.
A responsible government is going to invest tax dollars in projects and infrastructure that is going to benefit rate payers for generations. It is time to buck up, hold the government accountable, and make the required investment for the future, similar to what our grandparents and parents have done for us.
You must work for the government…We already pay taxes that should pay for schools, etc. Dividends from gas bills should not be necessary. It’s jut another money grab.
all i know is my rate has almost tripled since the installation of our smart meter and the rate increase ! it is now almost as much as our mortgage in 2 months
How does BC escape the IPCs it signed in the short run perhaps a buy back in fact I Favor nationalizing BC Hydro IPC sites, removing the dividend to government and replacing it with a rate reduction equivalent
On peack hours power is sold alberta and .U.S.Do you thnk this benefits B.C. residetints?
The person to person information given to me at a public meeting of the Professional Economists Association of BC, in Victoria, by the Chief of Forecasting for BCH, about a year and a half ago, was that all new IPP contracts were pricing electricity at more than $110 MWhr with an upper bound of $130.
The BCH 2013 Annual Report indicates BCH counting 7,417 GWhrs sold to Others at about $43/MWhr. BCH called sales to others as part of “Domestic” sales, which was a lie, but on page 68 of the report the corporation’s auditor corrected that misrepresentation by describing sales to others as sales to customers outside of BC who had the privilege of having long-term contracts, presumably at $43 + or_.
It is the reality of the corporate life that when producers are desperate for cash and they have a surplus of what they produce and wish to sell they take prices lower. By these measures BCH is a desperate seller and has the equivalence of two Site Cs worth of surplus power ready to sell at 40% or less of what electricity will cost from Site C or 25% of what other IPP contracts call for.
It is hard two imagine why anyone is willing to champion the case of IPPs who are clearly simply parasites in BC. The capital borrowing represented by 7,417 GWhrs is between $16 and 20 billion. This and other over-borrowing and over-spending examples are the reasons the BC government can’t balance budgets. The province’s Auditor General is currently calling “contingencies and contract obligations” that are not counted as debt by the Finance Minister stands at $100 billion with at least $50 billion directly associated with BCH and its IPP contracts.
I am a Senior citizen and have lived in BC for most of my life. The Governments of past have helped and not helped me. It seems this government has become apart of the political Mafia. The part truths of open government is apparent to me that we only need to pay and shut up. The money that is taken out of the province and gone to wherever leaves a big question. When are the tax payers going to get something for their money. This government has failed us and what can we do to have some accountability. Political mafia. It explains all. We in this fine province have the highest taxes, the highest costs in living expenses, the least amount of social services for the amount of money paid in taxes and it is getting even more expensive for all of us. For people on fixed incomes are now at the poverty level and nothing has been done to help those people.
Mid C off peak is at $41 today, the highest it has been all year. In May it was negative!
http://www.quandl.com/ICE-Intercontinental-Exchange/MIDCOFFPEAK-Spot-Power-Price-Mid-C-Off-Peak
The $62 that Gavin mentions, I believe, includes older, lower-priced IPP contracts such as Alcan. Kemano was built in the 1950’s, before BC Hydro, but they still consider it an IPP.
More recent IPP contracts are much more expensive to BC Hydro.
You got it, Hugh.
Hugh, I am comparing existing IPPs with BC Hydro’s cost of generation today.
If you wish to compare recent and future contracts, then you must compare it to BC Hydro’s Site C, John Hart, Aberfeldie, all of which are astronomic in cost. They are $128, $125, and $134 a MWh, with major destruction of habitat. John Hart blocks one of the most productive salmon runs in the world.
Future IPP projects will cost BC Hydro about $85 a MWh, much cheaper than Site C.
Alcan’s contract was renewed just a few years ago. So why is it not astronomic as Damian claims?
By the way, Mid C just hit $100 a MWh. Now try get a long-term contract out of Mid C!
No, Gavin, we don’t have to compare Site C power to IPPs. The point is they are both unnecessary. You need a third box that says “none of the above”.
And no, I was not in favour of Alcan breaking its contract to sell private power at high prices to BC Hydro instead of using the power to smelt aluminum and create jobs, as was the clear spirit of the original deal allowing them to dam up five rivers and create the Nechako/Kemano power system with our public assets.
I agree that the cost of Site C would be astronomic, at est. $8 billion. That’s ridiculous, what, is it made of gold?
Mid C power price is $84 a MWh today.
Why don’t we throw our money away and buy expensive and dirty Washington State power, and stop buying IPP power at $62 a MWh?
Too many jobs in BC and everyone is living like a king – so why not help the Americans with jobs?
Explain:
“(former) BC Hydro president Dave Cobb has told his staff that he expects Victoria to soon abandon its current energy self-sufficiency policy, a move that would free Hydro from buying hundreds of millions of dollars worth of electricity that it doesn’t need from independent power producers.”
from:
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=9c7f6e08-e6b0-4374-a763-f1c2b5190ec6
2012/2013 was an exceptional year in that there were so much precipitation that BC Hydro dams started to spill in June and July.
On the other hand, the previous two decades, BC Hydro had to import power most of the time, and the dams did not spill and have had huge storage capacity.
So is Rafe saying he rather buy dirty coal fired power from Washington State and send our dollars south so jobs are created in Washington and jobs are lost in BC, because of his hatred of private competitive, cheap, and clean power? And Washington State power is not cheap. It recently hit $45. It is a spot market useless to BC Hydro. BC Hydro needs longterm power contracts or it cannot guarantee that the lights stay on all the time.
Longterm power contracts in Washington are $55 to $65, which makes them more expensive than BC generated private power that create vast number of jobs right in BC.
Gavin, BC was a net exporter of 5,800 GWh of power last year – more than 10% above our total power needs. This trend is on the rise and shows no sign of abating into the distant future, as I laid out with clear evidence in this recent piece:
https://commonsensecanadian.ca/need-site-c-dam-exaggerated-public-hearings-set-next-month/
All indications we have suggest these private power contracts range from $85-120/MWh, far higher than your Washington spot market prices. Moreover, the issue is not how much they are today, but where they’re at when the bulk of this surplus IPP power comes on stream – i.e. the Spring freshet. In recent years, spot market prices have bottomed out, sometimes as low as $10 at this time of year – that’s because Washington State has its own hydro reservoirs, which are also full at this time of year. Meanwhile, demand is at its lowest (Spring = no air conditioners, little heating = low electrical demand) The combination of an abundance of supply with a lack of demand means what? A decline in price. So what we’re paying $85-120 for – precisely when we don’t need the power – we are forced to dump at a huge loss.
Rafe is not saying buy dirty coal. He’s saying quit fleecing the ratepayers of BC.
Besides, the practice of buying coal-fired power from across the border does nothing to increase the real carbon footprint of these plants, which can’t be shut down at night when demand is at its lowest. We buy some of this power – which would be wasted otherwise, and put it to use, while allowing our hydro reservoirs to fill up.
Don’t try and couch this is an environmental issue – that’s simply a PR device of you IPP cronies with your euphemistic “Clean Energy BC” language. IPPs have done nothing to reduce coal-fired power in Alberta or BC. What they have done is ravage our precious rivers with unnecessary environmental damage, while putting BC Hydro on the path to bankruptcy and jacking up bills for consumers.
https://wildernesscommittee.org/news/the_smoking_gun_bc%E2%80%99s_private_power_operators_are_killing_salmon_what_happens_next
https://commonsensecanadian.ca/bc-hydro-get-electricity-demand-forecasts-wrong/
Damian, what is your source for BC Hydro exports?
According to BC Hydro, it lost $120M in exports last year, but gained $395 million in the 3 years before. In the last 6 months, BC Hydro has profited $45 from exports.
In the spring quarter, BC Hydro was exporting power at $115 a MWh.
And why do you insist we import Washington dirty coal and nuke power that cause global warming? And Washington power is spot – useless for BC Hydro which needs long term power contracts and not spot market which was $100 recently.
And IPP power is not $85 to $120 a MWh. According to BC Hydro report page 45, the average was $71 for existing and $102 for future IPP power. Then you have to deduct $10 to $30 a MWh for the extra benefits IPPs pay government that BC Hydro does not. That puts IPP power at $62 to $84 a MWh.
Have you subtracted gov. benefits from your $85 to $120 figure? And what is your source for the $120 figure? And why is your $85 figure so much higher than what is reported by BC Hydro for IPP power at $62 a MWh?
Stats BC, as stated.
Hydro monkeys with its figures, as our resident economist Erik Andersen has detailed int hese pages – which is why we rely on Stats BC.
You also ignore the hidden costs to BC Hydro to support IPP power – i.e. IPPs pay only a portion of the costs to connect their projects to our grid.
I’m basing the cost of these contracts on the most recent “clean power” calls.
“For the most part, private companies – the so-called “run of river” projects – produce the majority of their power during the Spring run-off, just when Hydro has full reservoirs and has no need of private energy.”
Wrong and wrong. Are you saying BC Hydro should build run of river projects, and not private power companies? But the rainfall and snow melt is the same! Clouds don’t differentiate between BC Hydro mountains and private power mountains!
BC Hydro does NOT buy all the spring runoff power from private producers. If you read the link below, you will see BC Hydro buys only 25% of the spring runoff. That is, it will buy spring runoff power up to 1/3 of the power produced for the rest of the year. So wrong again.
http://www.bchydro.com/content/dam/hydro/medialib/internet/documents/info/doc/info_-_cpc_-_specimen1.doc
Gavin
how is that link proof of anything?…it is just a “specimen”…like that little brown mass one drops off at the lab…useless if it doesn’t have a name attached.
The difference between the specimen and actual contracts signed is in 1) price, and 2) escalation. Otherwise no other term was up to negotiation.
In any case, we know the weighted average price of IPPs which is $102 a MWh, before deduction for benefits paid. This weighted average includes all variations in the specimen contracts.
“Campbell government took away BC Hydro’s right to generate any new…”
Not correct Rafe – BC Hydro recently completed Brilliant 1, Brilliant 2, Aberfeldie, and has started on Waneta and John Hart – all power projects. BC Hydro will be spending $22 billion in the next decade building stuff.
Aberfeldie by BC Hydro, a small hydro, came out TWICE the cost of private power companies.
So you want BC Hydro to build small hydro at twice the cost and bill the ratepayers for that? And then have cost overruns (in the NTL project, BC Hydro had 85% cost overrun!) and then bilk the hapless ratepayers for that?
So are you proposing that rates should be increased to support a bloated, inefficient, wasteful state owned company where 60% of employees make over $100,000 a year, and driver/helpers make $150,000 a year?
How come you never answer to comments that corrects your mistakes?
3 guesses Mr Chu
Upgrades to old dams do not equal “new power”, Gavin. They don’t add additional capacity (capacity is always the size of the reservoir, which does not change with new turbines and upgraded power lines). What these usually sensible upgrades do is add flexibility to our grid, which is helpful in times of extreme demand or technical problems with a given supply. Rafe is correct – Hydro was forced to buy power it didn’t need from private operators, the sole real purpose being to enrich those operators, not to provide for the energy needs of British Columbians.
The reason this is a problem is because it is a scam.
How do you know when an IPP hack is in the room? You hear the word “Aberfeldie”.
And sure you can put some of the blame on Hydro for NWTL, but be sure to heap the lion’s share on the Liberal Government that directed it to build this boondoggle to supply its vaunted mines in the Sacred Headwaters.
That doesn’t mean IPPs – with their much higher financing costs and lack of experience building these projects are any better.
And I frankly don’t care who builds the stuff. I care who owns it. I care how much it costs ratepayers. Even more than that, I care whether the infrastructure is necessary or not. These IPPs are not and they are costing ratepayers and arm and a leg.
The whole thing is a giant sham.
The Van Sun article from Nov 27 said big companies in BC might want to “access market-priced electricity in the U.S., where rates are much lower.”
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Hydro+hikes+will+average+annual+bill+fifth+year/9218003/story.html
The U.S., where BC Hydro exports its excess power, after buying lots of un-needed power from IPPs at high prices.
That sound correct when do we start,cleaning out the old closet of B.C. hydro ,as we do own it !
I think the solution is simple….Hydro STOPS purchasing power from the IPPs, STOPS paying dividends to the lieberals pockets (If I purchase shares in a dividend paying Co. that is not making money, I don’t receive dividends!! ) STOPS paying very high bonuses to executives alreading making 6 figure wages, and STOPS giving the govt. $800m prior to elections because the govt thinks Hydro has too much money. Now, argue with that. Hydro is OUR company still isn’t it?