Tag Archives: Water and Energy

Penticton Western News: Mair leads the charge on energy policy

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From the Penticton Western News – April 5, 2011

by Steve Kidder

Politics sometimes makes strange bedfellows, and it appears
environmental activism does as well. At least for former Social Credit
cabinet minister Rafe Mair, who found himself sharing the stage with
provincial Green Party and NDP candidates at the Shatford Centre
Saturday afternoon.

It’s not about the politics of it, said the always outspoken
columnist and talk show host. While Julius Bloomfield, deputy leader of
the provincial Green Party, was also speaking at the event, Mair said
they didn’t bring the Town Hall Tour to Penticton in order to support
the Greens, either provincially or federally. Rather, he just wanted to
get the message out about environmental and energy issues facing the
people of B.C.

“I am not supporting the Greens, I am supporting our own
organization, which is called The Common Sense Canadian,” said Mair. “We
have no political affiliations at all, but we do support candidates
that have the same views on the environment and energy as we do.”

Mair partnered with award-winning filmmaker
Damien Gillis to create the organization, which he explains focuses on
two related, major issues: B.C.’s energy policy and the environmental
impact of developments like run-of-the-river power projects and the
proposed Enbridge Pipeline.

Even if these things aren’t happening locally,
Mair said that all B.C. residents have a stake in what is going on, in
every corner of the province, and need to hold governments to task.

“The energy policy that was brought in by the
Campbell government is absolutely preposterous,” said Mair. “We got
private companies buggering up our rivers, making power that Hydro can’t
use — they can only make it during the spring runoff — and forcing
Hydro to buy that power whether they want to or not.”

That leads to an “absurd” situation, Mair said,
claiming that BC Hydro will have to buy the power at three times the
price they can export it for, instead of making it themselves at a tenth
of the cost that the independent power producers can.

“BC Hydro is bankrupt. It’s not bankrupt, because
it always has the ratepayers to call on to bring in the money, but if
they were in the private sector right now, it would be in Chapter 11
protection,” said Mair, adding that the environmental argument against
independent power projects is just as strong.

“These rivers are buggered up, there is no doubt
about it,” he said. “All the things that live in those rivers are at
serious risk. This is what the Campbell government has done to your
environment and your energy.”

Cameron Phillips, who ran locally for the
provincial NDP in 2009, said he had a hard time making run-of-the-river
projects an election issue during that election.

“This is a ballot box issue. What British
Columbian wants to give up the right to their rivers, to pour millions
of dollars into corporate pockets that would otherwise go into roads and
schools and everything else?” said Phillip.

Mair’s powerful skills as an orator carried the
crowd packed into the recital hall at the Shatford Centre, bringing them
to their feet after a speech, that though short on substantiated facts,
was filled with emotional impact, as was Gillis’ film, Oil in Eden, which was shown prior to the speeches from Mair, Bloomfield and Gillis himself.

Mair said he hopes voters will think about these issues as they question the candidates running for office.

“I hope they will take these thoughts to the
various political parties in the federal race,” he said, adding his
opinion that the current government isn’t doing enough.

“The minister of fisheries is an absolute
deadhead, there is no use talking to her about anything,” said Mair.
“It’s got to change, it really does.”

More information about The Common Sense Canadian is available at www.thecanadian.org.

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Horgan Puts Private Power Industry on Notice

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Over the past several weeks, The Common Sense Canadian has published the energy positions of the BC First Party and NDP leadership hopeful Mike Farnworth. Now we are pleased to bring our readers a statement from NDP leadership candidate John Horgan.

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

Early on in my campaign to lead the BC NDP, I put independent power producers on notice that a John Horgan-led government will immediately put a moratorium on run of river power projects and conduct a review of existing power purchase agreements to determine if they are in the public interest. That might not make me many friends, but it’s the right thing to do.

The days of secret agreements that guarantee huge profits for private power operators at the expense of ordinary ratepayers will be over. The days of pet projects at the whim of politicians without any regard for the public interest will be over too. I would immediately move to restore the BC Utilities Commission to its rightful place as an independent oversight body that looks out for all British Columbians.

I was part of the Mike Harcourt administration that encouraged run of the river power projects – but only when it made sense. We had a plan that would see small communities served by true micro-hydro projects that would get them off diesel generators. Our plan required projects to be small in scale, without fish implications, and built for local energy needs.

But the BC Liberals saw the potential for their friends to make a buck (A LOT of bucks!), and the result of their ideologically driven agenda is what you see today – a crippled BC Hydro forced to jack rates by 50 per cent to keep up to rising costs from tens of billions of dollars in contractual obligations so their rich friends can get richer on the backs of British Columbians.

The reckless energy policies culminated last June when the government forced the so-called Clean Energy Act through the legislature with closure and no debate. Now our new “families first” premier has instructed her new energy minister to find a way to keep those rate hikes low because we’re heading into an election and she wants to appear the hero. That is just not good enough. The Clean Energy Act needs to be revisited and may need to be re-written completely, and I am committed to doing that as Premier of British Columbia.

As the BC NDP’s energy critic over the past five years, and an energy advisor to NDP governments in the 1990s before that, I recognize that energy issues are inextricably linked to environmental issues. That’s why I have embedded the two into my comprehensive environmental protection plan, and made that plan one of four key priorities of my campaign along with economic growth and social justice, education and training, and honest government.

My plan for the environment includes addressing climate change and creating a real green energy plan, protecting our environment including reinvesting in parks and the land base, providing real land and water stewardship, and protecting our ocean and coastline. I am committed to restoring the integrity and strength of our environmental assessment process that was groundbreaking when we introduced it in the 1990s, but has been seriously eroded under a decade of BC Liberal rule.

I will work with the environmental and business communities, working people, and experts to develop effective ways of reducing our carbon footprint, conserving energy, and protecting our natural environment. I also believe that we must create opportunities for young people to acquire skills necessary to build and compete in the new green economy. That includes replacing a plan to spend a billion dollars on smart meters with a plan to make a smart investment in home energy retrofits.

My environmental plan won praise from the Wilderness Committee when I was the first to release one. Gwen Barlee said, “Horgan’s environmental platform is far-reaching and comprehensive. It makes a commitment to a healthy environment and sets the bar for other leadership candidates to follow.” Noted environmental activist Vicky Husband recently told The Tyee, “[John Horgan has] shown a very strong environmental bent and sense of responsibility. If he becomes leader of the opposition, the environment will become a major issue.”

British Columbia is a commodity based economy that is transitioning to a new green economy. That transition will require us to both protect our environment and invest in green technology development and training to ensure British Columbians have the skills to take on the jobs of the future. Under my leadership, an NDP government will ensure that the natural legacy we inherited from those who came before us is protected for those who will come after us.

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Worm Turns for Private Power as NDP Leadership Hopefuls Get It

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The chickens are, at long last, coming home to roost! The Campbell Government’s Energy Policy, now Christy Clark’s, is being seen for what it is – an egregiously ideological giveaway to large corporations. Even that Liberal suck, the Vancouver Province calls the policy “folly”. Yes, after 8 years of silence, of indifference, the Province in one word describes a policy it has, by its silence condoned for nearly a decade – a policy they and the rest of the media could have likely stopped had they chosen to deal with it. Meanwhile, the Vancouver Sun, having a Fellow of the Fraser Institute, Fazil Milhar as editor of the Editorial Page, has indeed by its silence kept the spotlight off this massive giveaway of our province.

The evil consequences of BC’s current energy policy, drafted in large part by Alcan in its move way from smelting aluminum into a big-time energy producer, are many.

As official spokesman for The Common Sense Canadian, I’ve spoken throughout the province and found one constant obstacle: people find it difficult to believe that any sane government could come up with such a policy. They’re starting to realize that they’re right – no sane government would:

  • Forbid BC Hydro from developing any new public power projects (Site C, exempted, is not a “new” project – it’s been on the books for decades)
  • Give all development to private companies with secret sweetheart deals
  • All but give them licenses to use our rivers (the original price for a private power water license was around $170)
  • Force BC Hydro to buy this private power at almost 3 times what they pay for it or some 9-12 more than they can make it themselves, thus placing BC Hydro in a position that if they were in the private sector, they would be headed for bankruptcy.

That’s right folks – these private power projects can’t store much energy, meaning it must be used when it’s created. Because they can’t generate much power when their rivers are low, which they generally are except during the annual spring run-off – when we need their power the least – BC Hydro gets stuck with power it must use or sell at a huge loss.

One cannot blame people for not believing this. It is indeed incomprehensible. But it’s true.

It’s so hard to believe that the NDP in the ’09 election didn’t make this into the big issue of the campaign.

The worm has turned – not implying that the NDP are worms! – and the leading candidates for their leadership have clearly stated that there will be no more of this sweetheart cronyism and that the secret contracts must be opened up to the public’s scrutiny.

You will recall that during the Liberal Party’s leadership process this environment/energy issue wasn’t debated at all. It was if it simply didn’t exist! Assuming that the NDP select either Mr. Farnworth or Mr. Horgan, this issue is automatically in the forefront of the debate and must be dealt with – as long as the NDP keeps its nerve.

On a related matter, John Cummins, leader of the Conservative Party, has long been an ardent foe of the Liberals’ Energy Policy and even if, which I don’t believe, the NDP were to lose their nerve, the Conservatives won’t. With no seats going into the race, and with Mr. Cummins’ reputation for fighting for what he believes in, the Liberals will finally be forced to face the music.

Finally, what will Mr. Campbell do now?

On the Liberal leader election night, Mr. Campbell was said to be in Washington, DC. This is not the time of year he normally takes a vacation there and it would be interesting to know what his itinerary was.

My guess is that some plumy directorships will be coming his way from grateful titans of industry.

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Environment unites B.C. NDP hopefuls at leadership debate

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From The Province – April 2, 2011

by Cassidy Olivier

They joked around about what kind of salmon they would be, drew big
laughs with their self-deprecating humour and elicited cheers from the
packed auditorium with their directed jabs at the governing Liberal
Party.

But the main message coming out of Saturday’s B.C. NDP
leadership debate on environmental sustainability in Vancouver was a
serious one: The province needs a government who makes the environment a
top priority. And that’s what they promised to do.

Like the
previous six leadership debates, the five candidates vying for the top
job differed little on the policy issues — ranging from water
stewardship to pollution taxes — raised at the Creekside Community
Centre in the former Olympic Village.

All agreed that the
province’s environmental assessment process needs beefing up, that
issues of ­poverty and sustainability are inextricably linked, that
damaging practices need to be stopped and that the controversial carbon
tax needs rejigging.

Similarly, all five said they were against
Site C, the proposed mega-dam on the Peace River, the cross-province
Enbridge Pipeline project and offshore drilling.

They also expressed a need to take a closer look at B.C. Hydro’s IPP contracts.

As
John Horgan, MLA for Juan de Fuca, put it in a line borrowed from
himself Thursday in Victoria: “It’s another love-in, as you can see.
There’s not a lot to divide the five of us with respect to policy or the
issues of the day.”

The differences, then, were found in the way
they performed and the themes they pushed forward as part of their
ultimate goal of convincing party members that they are the right choice
to lead New Democrats into the future, and the best bet of beating
Premier Christy Clark at the polls.

Vancouver-Kingsway MLA ­Adrian
Dix, one of three perceived front-runners, spoke passionately about the
need for environmental assessment legislation that was “worthy of its
name.”

He said the carbon tax shouldn’t be revenue neutral and promised a rollback on the tax to fund transportation and education.

Dix also tossed the most vitriol at B.C.’s new premier, saying in his closing remarks that he “couldn’t wait” to take her on.

Earlier,
he questioned Clark’s decision to lobby the federal government on the
proposed Prosperity Mine near Williams Lake, after the feds had said the
province’s environmental assessment had been inadequate.

“Stephen
Harper’s government said no. Then the new premier of B.C. demands that
the federal government overturns its decision,” said Dix.

“You got to be pretty far out on the political fringe to be on the right of Stephen Harper.”

Mike
Farnworth, MLA for Port Coquitlam and another perceived front-runner,
spoke frequently of unity — both in terms of uniting the province under a
shared vision and progressive voters who are desperate for change.

Farnworth
spoke of ­adequately funding the Ministry of Environment so that “they
can do what they are supposed to do” and of a government that looks at
sustainability, as it applies not only to the environment, but also
public policy.

“Our best days, our best public policy is when we
do what we do best which is bring the people together,” he said. “We
don’t divide the people, we bring them together.”

Horgan, who
appears to be making a late push and arguably drew the most laughs of
the day, said the Liberals aren’t adequately protecting the province’s
resources.

He said more science needs to be applied when making
decisions that have environmental impacts, and spoke of putting forward a
strong agenda based on sustainability that the voters are proud of.

Nicholas
Simons, MLA for Powell-River Sunshine Coast, also spoke of the need to
bring in experts and seek differing opinions when making policy
decisions.

In perhaps the most eloquent close of the afternoon,
Simons, a cellist, likened his role as leader to a conductor in an
orchestra.

Marijuana activist Dana Larsen said it was critical
that we move away from a carbon-based society to one that uses more
renewable energy such as hemp.

B.C. NDP members will vote for a new leader April 17.

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Rafe Mair to speak in Penticton

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From the Penticton Western News – March 31, 2011

Former Social Credit cabinet minister and political commentator Rafe
Mair will be in Penticton Saturday as part of a provincewide series of
engagements called: A Town-hall Tour for Common Sense Canadians.

As a radio talk-show host throughout much of the
‘90s on Vancouver’s CKNW, Mair made a name for himself as a thoughtful,
witty and, at times, abrasive stewart of political discourse.

Two years ago, when he last spoke in Penticton,
Mair said that if the BC Liberal government continues on its “path of
disseminating BC Hydro”, the province’s residents will face huge price
hikes in our electrical bills.

Since then, according to Mair, “we now face, on average, 50 per cent hikes in our electrical bills.”

Once again, Mair will speak on issues affecting B.C.’s rivers, hydro bills, fish and democracy.

“These aren’t matters of left and right, but of
right and wrong,” said Mair. “It’s time for common sense Canadians to
band together through our own media and community organizing to address
our greatest challenges: protecting our environment and democracy.

“We can be the generation that lost B.C. or, together, we can be the one that saved it.”

The town hall meeting will also include former
provincial Green Party candidate Julius Bloomfield, an advocate for
alternative energies such as solar and wind, and filmmaker Damien
Gillis’ new short documentary on the proposed Enbridge Pipeline to
B.C.’s North Coast.

The event will take place Saturday at 2 p.m. at
the Shatford Centre (the old Pen High building across from the Penticton
Public Library).

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BC Utilities Commission Suspends Hydro Rate Increase

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From The Province – March 31, 2011

By Cassidy Olivier

The B.C. Utilities Commission has suspended a proposal by B.C. Hydro
seeking an interim rate increase of almost 10 per cent starting April 1.

The
proposal is included in Hydro’s revenue application package for the
years 2012 to 2014, which will, if approved, see rates jump by 9.73 per
cent as part of the Crown corporation’s $6-billion upgrade plans.

The
BCUC, however, ruled late Monday the interim rate may be “too high”
given Hydro’s admission during the proceedings that the government’s
review of the proposed increases could result in lower rates.

Minister of Energy Rich Coleman is heading a review into Hydro, at the behest of new premier Christy Clark.

The
BCUC said in a written statement on its website that arguments for a
proposed interim-rate increase are not based on the best information
possible given the ongoing ministerial review.

As such, the increase was suspended pending further submissions by Hydro and other interested parties.

The issue will be revisited April 8.

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Mair, Gillis bringing common sense to Kelowna April 3

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From the Kelowna Capital News – March 30, 2011

Rivers, hydro bills, oil tankers, democracy—these are the
subjects of a rousing tour of B.C. this year led by Rafe Mair and Damien
Gillis.

Gillis and Mair are founders of a new online
journal called The Common Sense Canadian, created to provide a voice for
the public and the environment.

As part of a speaking tour that reaches some 30
communities around the province, Mair and Gillis  will appear in Kelowna
on Sunday, April 3, 3 p.m., at First United Church in downtown Kelowna.

The event is co-sponsored by the Kelowna chapter of the Council of Canadians and Citizens for Public Power.

The townhall meeting will feature Gillis’ new
short documentary on the proposed Enbridge pipeline to B.C.’s North
Coast, called Oil In Eden, and a keynote speech by Mair, a former
provincial government cabinet minister under former premier Bill
Bennett’s Social Credit government and a now retired long-time Vancouver
radio talk show host.

The two will also take questions from the audience.

The tour is designed to inform and empower British Columbians.

“These aren’t matters of left and right, but of right and wrong,” Mair said.

“It’s time for Common Sense Canadians to band
together—through our own media and community organizing—to address our
greatest challenges: Protecting our environment and democracy.

“We can be the generation that lost B.C., or together we can be the one that saved it.”

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Campbell & IPPs: The Big Lie

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As Bridge players say, may I review the bidding?

Gordon Campbell has gone into retirement but anyone who thinks he won’t be rewarded by industry for all his hard work for them ought to be showing some interest in Florida swamp lands.

The part of Campbell’s tenure that most concerns me is his record on Independent Power Projects (IPPs), where he employed the well known theory that if the lie is big enough and you let it run for enough time, people will believe it.

On the IPP issue Campbell not only used the “Big Lie” technique, he was much aided by a tame if not captive media. It’s important to note this, for one can fool the public either by dealing with the issues thoroughly or not at all. The BC mainstream media has chosen the latter method and it’s worked magnificently for Campbell.

 There is a new factor which I’ve dealt with in the past but it’s come to the fore forcefully thanks to economist Erik Andersen.

 First let’s examine what we know about IPPs.

  • They create environmental nightmares      
  • They have sweetheart deals with BC Hydro which has been mandated by the government to give them
  • Most IPP power comes at a time BC Hydro doesn’t need the power
  • Even though it doesn’t need the power, under the “take or pay” clause BC Hydro must take it
  • BC Hydro, having been forced to take IPP power has two choices – export it at less than half of what it was forced to pay for it or use it at 12 times what it can create its own power for.

I can’t believe this situation which rivals and perhaps exceeds the crooked mayor who gives long term sweetheart deals to his brother-in-law.

What Campbell has done is to bury these facts from the public by stating the egregious falsehood that BC needs private power because it must import power. This scares people who fear that without IPPs we will literally be in the dark. The crucial point is that if BC was short of energy, the last place they could get it would be IPPs which produce the bulk of their power during the annual spring run-off.

A new wrinkle has been added: BC Hydro is seeking permission from the BC Utilities Commission for massive rate increases, ostensibly for renovations and stuff like that.

In their proposals and indeed in their other financial statements you see the Sherlock Holmes famous dog barking scenario where the whole point of the case was that the dog didn’t bark. So it is with these sweetheart deals. For what’s missing from this whole mess is a financial statement from BC Hydro that shows the ever increasing liabilities of some $50 BILLION to these IPPs which will cost it well in excess of a billion a year for up to 40 years! We’re talking about in excess of $1 billion a year and growing! . As the late American senator Everett Dirksen once said “A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money.”

All of these deals have a COLA clause to cover any inflation that might occur!

Pretty neat, huh! How would you like a deal like this where, no matter what you do, you can’t go broke?

There is no doubt that under these circumstances if BC Hydro were in the private sector it would be seeking bankruptcy protection. The only reason BC Hydro is not bankrupt is that it has a steady flow of income which can be raised if necessary – you and me and BC industry who must pay more and more to cover BC Hydro’s commitments and shortfalls.

Why aren’t we being told by the government about this mess – about how we are sacrificing our environment so that companies like General Electric can literally steal our power?

In fact it’ worse than that for governments are actually granting money to these huge wealthy companies.

We’ve been taken for fools by the Campbell government and the pliant media. Gordon Campbell gets praise whereas he should get his second sojourn in the slammer.

The dog hasn’t barked and the biggest giveaway BC has ever seen goes unexplained by the government and unnoticed by the media.

 

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Public Power for the Public Good

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The Common Sense Canadian is pleased to provide the following guest article by BC NDP leadership candidate Mike Farnworth, detailing his vision for the future of our energy policy in BC. We hope to provide you with statements from the other NDP leadership candidates in the lead-up to the party’s April 17 vote.

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There’s a discussion that needs to take place in this province around the legacy of one of British Columbia’s greatest builders.
 
That person was W.A.C. Bennett. Partisan politics aside, all British Columbians owe the first Premier Bennett a debt for his leadership in creating B.C. Hydro, and establishing the importance of public, large-scale hydroelectric power to both our province’s economic development and environmental protection.
 
The vision that he showed back in the 1950s and 60s has served this province well to the current day, and that vision is public power for the public good. It is a vision that I believe in, and one I am committed to fighting for as leader of the BC NDP, and as Premier of the province.
 
It’s a vision we need to build on, but also one we need to protect. As I’ve said throughout my campaign, I believe that our social and economic development must be developed through the key lens of sustainability. And public power is one of the most sustainable public assets we have, one that must be protected.
 
That is why a key part of my extensive environmental policy platform has been to protect these assets. I have committed to:

  • Ending the sell-off our public assets by placing a moratorium on all new independent power projects (IPPs);
  • Ending the secrecy surrounding IPPs by opening up all existing power purchasing agreements to public review and scrutiny, and, where possible end or amend agreements that don’t serve the public interest; and,
  • Reinstating independent oversight of the BC Utilities Commission.

The development of independent power projects, and in particular the run of the river projects, have largely taken place behind closed doors, and in a vacuum of a broader strategic discussion about the true nature of our energy needs in B.C.
 
The question of the downstream benefits, and the Columbia River Treaty, is up in 2024. Those benefits will then return to us. When we look at how our energy policy should be shaped, at what direction public power development should take, we need to be taking these factors into account, and openly engaging the public.
 
And because this is such a vital public resource, the public does have a right to transparency where the existing IPP contracts are concerned. The government should be able to answer the questions about what’s in the contracts, why are we paying more, and should we be paying more. We need to bring some clarity and some openness into the IPP agreements that have been signed. We need to have somebody independent going in and looking at them, such as the Auditor General for example, and determining whether those contracts are in the public interest.
 
We also need to restore the oversight capacity of the B.C. Utilities Commission. When you strip away public oversight, as the BC Liberal government has done, and you strip away environmental oversight on projects under a particular size, people rightly start asking questions. We need to return people’s faith to public power.
 
Because at the end of the day, this is a public resource. We own it. Public power has been one of the best economic advantages this province has had, and can and should continue to have for generations to come.
 
It can generate energy for many, many years. We buy power in the middle of the night, when the generators are going. We turn off the generators on our dams, and our reservoirs fill up. And in the morning, we sell our own power at peak price. That’s a good business deal to me, it’s a good deal for our environment, and it’s a good deal for British Columbians.

You can find out more about Mike Farnworth’s comprehensive plan for the environment here.


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IPP’s to cost BC Hydro almost $1 billion annually by 2014

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From the Whistler Pique – March 22, 2011

by Jesse Ferreras

BC Hydro’s investment in green energy is expected to cost it almost $1 billion by 2014.

In a Revenue Requirements Application filed with the B.C. Utilities
Commission that is expected to garner the power authority a 32 per cent
rate increase from 2012 to 2014, BC Hydro indicates that it will be
spending progressively more on electricity generated by Independent
Power Producers (IPP’s) in every year that the rate increase occurs.

In the 2010 fiscal year, BC Hydro spent $567.4 million on electricity
from independent power producers. Those purchases climb to $781.8
million in 2013 and finally to $939.8 million in 2014.

Asked for comment, a spokesman with BC Hydro declined to explain the
increases. He said only that parties involved with hearings before the
B.C. Utilities Commission in the coming weeks would address the
increases and that the power authority would address concerns at that
time.

BC Hydro says in the application that the majority of the cost
increases between 2013 and 2014 are attributable to projects that were
extended electricity purchase agreements (EPA’s) under the 2009 Clean
Power Call. Several new projects approved through that process are
expected to come online between 2012 and 2014.

Independent power producers reach electricity purchase agreements
with the power authority under various requests for proposals such as
Clean Power Calls and the Standing Offer Program.

Programs such as these have resulted in facilities such as the
Fitzsimmons Creek run-of-river project in Whistler and the Rutherford
Creek run-of-river project near Pemberton.

The Upper Lillooet cluster, a series of run-of-river facilities being
pushed by Creek Power Inc. on streams surrounding the Lillooet River
north of Pemberton, is among the projects that obtained an electricity
purchase agreement under the 2009 Clean Power Call. It is currently
undergoing an environmental assessment and must obtain a certificate
from the Environmental Assessment Office before it is allowed to
operate.

But the 2009 Clean Power Call isn’t the only place where costs are
rising for BC Hydro when it comes to purchases from IPP’s. In fact,
costs are rising for BC Hydro on every single call to solicit green
energy from the private sector except for the 2002 Customer-Based
Generation program.

For example, in 2010, BC Hydro spent $38 million on projects approved
under the 2006 Clean Call. That number climbs to $154.2 million in
2011, $215.4 million in 2012, $221.2 million in 2013 and $236.7 million
in 2014.

Marjorie Griffin Cohen, a political science professor at Simon Fraser
University and former BC Hydro board member, said it makes “no economic
sense” for BC Hydro to be purchasing so much electricity from
independent power producers.

“It’s wrong on all kinds of levels,” she said. “First of all, it is a
tremendous cost. These contracts are also indexed, which means they
will never get cheaper. They are sometimes as much as 30 times what BC
Hydro can sell the power for.

“This isn’t BC Hydro’s fault, this is the government’s fault. BC
Hydro would never have chosen to do this because it makes no economic
sense for them.”

Purchases of electricity from IPP’s actually supply BC Hydro with
more power than it expects domestic customers will actually demand
between 2012 and 2014.

In each of these years it expects to generate 52,600 GWh through
“heritage assets” – that means publicly-owned facilities such as the
Revelstoke and WAC Bennett hydroelectric dams.

Residential, commercial and industrial customers are expected to
purchase 54,494 GWh of electricity in 2012. BC Hydro will have 62,814
GWh to provide in this year alone thanks to 10,114 GWh in IPP purchases.

Sales in 2013 are projected to reach about 56,000 GWh. BC Hydro
expects to generate 62,541 GWh of electricity that year, with 9,941 GWh
coming from IPP’s.

Then, in 2014, sales are expected to reach about 58,000 GWh worth of
electricity. BC Hydro expects to generate 63,668 GWh of electricity in
that year, with 11,068 GWh coming from IPP’s.

There, too, Cohen had some questions. She recently attended a session
in which BC Hydro showed forecasts for consumer demand as part of its
Integrated Resource Planning process.

“It’s hard to know what they are basing their increase in demand on,”
she said. “Sometimes they’re talking about the need for total
electrification of cars, so there are other kinds of things they’re
talking about that have to be looked at very carefully to see if that
huge increase in demand is significant.”

These demand figures, however, don’t take into account energy
conservation programs such as Power Smart that are aimed at decreasing
consumption of electricity. Power Smart works to educate the public
about energy efficient technologies and conservation actions. BC Hydro
believes such a program will lower demand for electricity.

BC Hydro CEO Dave Cobb continues to maintain that its rates will
remain the cheapest in North America even after the rate increases. He
has maintained in media appearances that the B.C. Utilities Commission
must approve the rate increases.

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