After the Ken Davidson report to government about BC Hydro’s purchases of private power, David Beers’ wrote, “Somewhere up there Rafe Mair is smacking clouds together to make them thunder: “I told you so!”
Continue readingTag: Independent Power Producers (IPP)
In-Sights: Omission of truth becomes a lie
In real terms, the BC government’s natural resource revenues in 2018 were 37% of the level in 2001, despite material increases in output.
Continue readingIn-Sights: Still buying high, selling low
In the current year, BC Hydro expects to export electricity for a price of C$26,500 per megawatt hour. Compare that to the C$91,403/MWh paid independent power producers in the fiscal year ended March, 2018, an amount 28% higher than five years before. Bank of Canada puts inflation at 7% and
Continue readingIn-Sights: Opprobrium
The analysis by Richard McCandless would be headline material if corporate media were paying attention to the public interest. Burdens imposed on ratepayers measure in the billions and traditional journalists — including the ones who reported for years on far smaller sums lost to fast ferries — report almost no
Continue readingIn-Sights: Malfeasance and mismanagement
BC Hydro and the energy ministry employ many people paid salaries of hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. But, these people don’t work to save ratepayers’ money but to convince customers that the 80% rate increase between 2007 and and 2018 was appropriate and the huge increases still to
Continue readingIn-Sights: Power from the powerful
Politically connected individuals took advantage of citizens’ desire for clean, renewable energy and the Liberals wrote contracts with “lucky firms” that bore no relationship to market prices, guaranteed massive private profits and ensured all financial risks stayed with the public. The contracts in British Columbia last as long as sixty
Continue readingIn-Sights: Horgan talks private and public power
John Horgan issued a press release that makes so damn much sense, I’m repeating it almost entirely. British Columbia urgently needs an independent and transparent examination of all private power purchase agreements, including those important portions kept secret…
Continue readingIn-Sights: Liberal energy policy, blunder or costly malfeasance?
Considering the near endless ink and airtime dedicated to what Liberals called “Glen Clark’s folly,” people should compare the attention paid to a Campbell/Clark program that may have cost the province 15 or 20 times as much.
Continue readingIn-Sights: Private power – BC’s unmitigated financial disaster
The Horgan Government indicated it will conduct a review of private power purchases but lifting contract secrecy is the one thing that could be done immediately. It is inconceivable that IPPs could prove damages from publication of contracts since the business terms are widely known throughout the industry. Secrecy only
Continue readingIn-Sights: Real news reshaped, redefined and side tracked
Independent Voter Network declares: A free press is the watchdog of the people. The media holds the sacred responsibility of alerting the citizenry of actions by governments, elected politicians, corporations and even private citizens. It is the fourth estate… But now the fourth estate is in crisis. The news media
Continue readingIn-Sights: Shilling for dollars
Updated from June 2016. In an earlier article, I made reference to BC Legislative Press Gallery members producing commissioned articles. These are public relations pieces intended to serve particular needs of government or entities doing business with government. It is the kind of output that will ultimately be replaced by
Continue readingIn-Sights: What Hydro, Government and corporate media hates reporting
BC Hydro’s sales of electricity to residents and businesses have been flat since 2005, despite population growth of 15% in BC and minimal effort by the provincial utility to reduce consumption. BC Hydro hides the fact by including sales outside the province in the once insignificant “Other” category and counting
Continue readingIn-Sights: Misappropriation of public wealth
This article was first published in April 2016 and is repeated because is explains how BC Hydro got into the private power mess that continues to cost ratepayers hundreds of million of dollars each year. Readers may tire of reports on BC Hydro but the more I examine this public
Continue readingIn-Sights: The prosecution rests
You can print and circulate this DEMAND by downloading PDF format
Continue readingIn-Sights: Freedom of disinformation
By any measure, BC Hydro was a success. So successful that pirates made plans to plunder. BC Hydro was a decades old operation that delivered power to British Columbia’s residential and business consumers at prices that ranked among the lowest anywhere. Additionally, a steady flow of money moved from the
Continue readingIn-Sights: An electrifying agenda
Access to years of BC Hydro’s financial reports provide me with an indisputable record of the utility’s financial destruction. Eleven years ago, one citizen didn’t have detailed evidence but he did have foresight. A letter to Black Press, September 27, 2006: Editor: Re: Tom Fletcher, B.C. Views, “Road show, or
Continue readingIn-Sights: Corporate media works for some but not for its audience
Earlier this year, American Bernie Sanders warned us about the failures of corporate media. In How Corporate Media Threatens Democracy, he wrote: …For years, major crises like climate change, the impact of trade agreements on our economy, the role of big money in politics and youth unemployment have received scant
Continue readingIn-Sights: Utility woes
There is an interesting note in BC Hydro’s quarterly report issued in mid October for the period ended June 30, 2017: These interim financial statements were approved on behalf of the Board of Directors on August 24, 2017. By law (Budget Transparency and Accountability Act, Section 10(3)), BC Hydro was
Continue readingIn-Sights: It will get worse for BC Hydro ratepayers
If you are paying attention to the affairs of BC Hydro, you know the utility is in financial trouble. However, it is electricity consumers that are feeling the pain. Unfortunately, with billions of dollars in phony assets to be written off, a growing power supply that outstrips static demand, payments
Continue readingIn-Sights: Looking forward
I assume that logic and fact will prevail and Site C, the most expensive public project in BC history, will be cancelled. It is a costly disaster but BC Hydro ratepayers are burdened even more by payments to independent power producers (IPPs). Much of the $100 million a month or
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