Victoria – Very quietly, on Wednesday evening, long after media and MLA’s retired for the night, comes a scathing report on the Christy Clark and Gordon Campbell Liberals and their handling of BC Hydro contracts.
The report via the NDP Provincial Givernment, details how the previous provincial government pressured BC Hydro into signing long-term contracts with independent power producers (IPPs) that will cost B.C. customers more than $16 billion over 20 years.
Former B.C. Treasury Board director Ken Davidson delivered his report, titled Zapped: A review of BC Hydro’s purchase of power from independent power producers conducted for the Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources. It details how the previous government manufactured an urgent need for power while disallowing BC Hydro to produce it, therefore requiring the public utility to buy power from private producers at inflated prices. According to the report, this will ultimately cost the average residential BC Hydro customer about $4,000 over the next 20 years, or about $200 per year.
“British Columbians are paying more on their hydro bills because of the previous government’s choices,” said Michelle Mungall, Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources. “Professional staff within government and BC Hydro warned them against that course of action, but that government refused to listen. As a result, these contracts have already cost customers $3.2 billion and are set to cost billions more over the next two decades.”
The report also demonstrates that the power BC Hydro was forced to purchase from IPPs was largely the wrong energy profile. Of the 105 contracts with IPPs since 2002, 71 were from run-of-river projects, most of which can only be relied on during the spring freshet. BC Hydro does not need more power during that time when the demand is low and there is abundance of water available in BC Hydro’s reservoirs.
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To read the report, Zapped: A review of BC Hydro’s purchase of power from independent power producers conducted for the Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/electricity-alternative-energy/electricity/bc-hydro-review
