Most people are educated by BC Hydro’s dishonest claims about demand growth. So, when they read a report that domestic sales have been flat for 15 years, they tend to be doubtful. Today, an In-Sights reader who works in the trades sent a message. It shows one example of modern
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In-Sights: Electric shock
In a few words, over a 15 year span, total annual revenues (what we have paid as customers) have increased by 100% , over the same period and with inclusion of contract obligations the total capital deployed more than doubled but customer needs ( as represented by volume of annual
Continue readingIn-Sights: Why we’re voting
It is easy to conclude why Premier John Horgan ignored BC’s established pattern of general elections every four years. The BC NDP was riding high in the polls but a threat to that popularity was looming. A threat not known to the general public…
Continue readingIn-Sights: A conversation about BC Hydro
My conversation about BC Hydro with Chris Cook for CFUV 101.9 FM radio in Victoria. Chris regularly addresses issues not well covered by corporate media. BC Hydro’s difficulties definitely fit in that category.
Continue readingIn-Sights: North American Megadam Resistance Alliance
Before forming the Horgan Government in 2017, BC NDP was a frequent critic of how BC Liberals managed our largest and most important crown corporation. NDP promised radical improvements.
Continue readingIn-Sights: BC Hydro salaries
BC Hydro withheld its Financial Information Act Return for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020 until September 30, the final day before failure to publish the report would have offended provincial law…
Continue readingIn-Sights: Lies cost BC citizens billions
To gain public support for massive spending, BC Hydro is untruthful. To avoid taking responsibility for bad public policy, the Horgan Government pretends not to notice…
Continue readingIn-Sights: BC Hydro Annual Report
In the fiscal year ended March 31, to its residential, commercial and industrial customers, BC Hydro sold 1.6% less electricity than in the previous year. The volume in 2019-2020 was slightly less than the 15 year average…
Continue readingIn-Sights: Energy policy undermined by special interests
Difficulty justifying billions of dollars spent to meet a need that has not existed is no real problem for people who benefit from the expenditures. After years of arguing falsely that more electricity has been needed to serve population growth, now they contend that vastly more capacity is required for
Continue readingIn-Sights: Population change, economic growth and electricity consumption
It seems logical that a growing population and an expanding economy would need greater supplies of electricity. But de-industrialization and lighting, motor and other efficiencies changed the proposition. Reality over the past 15 years is something difference…
Continue readingIn-Sights: Good advice ignored
More than ten years ago, economist Erik Andersen and famed commentator Rafe Mair warned that BC Liberals had planted seeds of destruction in the bowels of BC Hydro. Indeed, the seeds germinated, spread invasively and debilitated the once proud utility. Citing five vectors, Andersen concluded the financial position of BC
Continue readingIn-Sights: Errors and alternatives
Three years ago, John Horgan’s Government promised the 2017 upward budget revision for Site C would be firm, final and effectively managed. Three years before that, Liberal Energy Minister Bill Bennett provided assurance that the $7.9 billion dam budget was fully reviewed by the world’s top experts. It was final;
Continue readingIn-Sights: Site C losses will be massive
With domestic demand in 2020 below that of 2005, the lies of BC Hydro’s spin doctors about demand growth are exposed by the company’s audited sales numbers. Site C power seems promised to natural gas producers and processors at less than 6¢ per KWh, which would result in an operating
Continue readingIn-Sights: Sarah Cox on CO-OP RADIO
Co-op Radio’s interview with Sarah Cox, the preeminent journalist covering issues surrounding British Columbia’s effort to ensure that NL’s Muskrat Falls is only the second worst hydro-electric project in Canada.
Continue readingIn-Sights: Site C: Government failure to safeguard the public interest
That Ralston, Horgan and colleagues knew about cost pressures and risks three years ago and chose to proceed shows the NDP wholly owns this fiasco. Had Site C been stopped in 2017, the loss would have certainly been less than the difference between the initial budget and the final cost.
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: The idea that Site C has gone past the point of no return is a falsehood.
Dear Carole James and Nina, COVID 19 is not the most crucial issue. The idea that Site C has gone past the point of no return is a falsehood. We could and should stop it Read more…
Continue readingIn-Sights: Private profits but public risks – Updated
Commercialization of small-scale nuclear power has turned out to be far more difficult than investors expected a decade ago. Even one of the world’s richest entrepreneurs cannot finance a multi-billion-dollar program with an uncertain future. Nuclear may play a role in the 2030s but solar, wind and geothermal are viable
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Don’t blame COVID-19 for new Site C dam cost overruns and delays, energy experts say
BC Hydro has classified the health of the most expensive public project in B.C. history as ‘red,’ blaming the pandemic for Site C’s deepening woes, but significant problems had emerged well before the virus Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Site C Is Now Priceless!
August 3, 2020 | By Ken Boon On Friday July 31st, the BC Government finally revealed just how bad things are with the Site C dam. Of course you had to Read more…
Continue readingIn-Sights: Absolute disregard for transparency and accountability.
Had BC Hydro executives chosen to, the annual report and financials could have been released one to two months ago. Much of the report is boiler plate that is substantially reused each year and key business information is created internally within days of period end…
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