Letter to the Editor

More information released by the BC Liberal government regarding BC Hydro is yet another slap to the BC ratepayers using electricity.

It became clear that eight IPPs (or Independent Power Producers) were asked by the BC government NOT to produce electricity for a total cost to the taxpayer of $17.5 million last year.

In effect, these IPP contracts which were put into place by former Premier Gordon Campbell in 2006-7, requires by law that BC Hydro either “take or pay” for the excess electricity being produced by IPPs not sold to California or elsewhere. In this latest round for 2015, BC Hydro paid the $17.5 million for 300 gigawatt-hours of energy NOT needed. In addition to this fallacy, last year as well, BCH paid $672 million OVER market price because of contractual agreements with various IPPs.

There is an incompetence from the top energy policy makers in this province right through to the regulators as well. We have now paid as ratepayers in this province close to $700 million in electricity costs not needed or over priced in one year alone.

And so Mme Clark continues on to the point of no return for the unneeded Site C project. This, at a cost of $9.6 billion, factoring in BCH’s own admissions of $800 million losses in the first four years of Site C’s operation.

So, where is the government’s Plan B for electricity? It doesn’t exist. Madam Clark says “no” to the ratepayers of this province.

Mike Kroecher and Rick Koechl,

Charlie Lake

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