BC Hydro, first quarter sales
So BC Hydro plans to spend $57 billion over the next decade to meet what CEO Chris O’Riley and NDP Minister Josie Osborne say is to meet the rapidly growing…
BC Hydro
BC Hydro wasn’t privatized, but billions of dollars were
In 2001, BC's party of big business was called Liberal; in 2024, it is labeled Conservative. Different names; same purposes. Some voters in the October election were not even born…
Journalism without fact-checking
Beware of what you read about BC Hydro in news sites operating to benefit those who aim to privatize billions of public dollars. One example is a Derrick Penner article…
20 year demand growth 1/5 of BC Hydro predictions
Three days after the final date allowed by law for making public its Annual Service Plan, BC Hydro made the document available on its website. Electricity sales to residential, commercial…
Rip ‘n’ Read, 2024 style
There are many good journalists working in corporate media today. But, lack of resources stifles their work. At times, news people simply accept press releases as accurate and report the…
Manufactured ignorance
Many readers of IN-SIGHTS examine public issues with great care and email private comments to me along with links to worthwhile material. What follows comes from a paper sent to…
Douglas, Lewis, Broadbent, and Layton spinning in their graves?
This item, contributed by a reader, comments upon BC Hydro now offering a ten to fifteen billion dollar commitment to private power producers. This continues Gordon Campbell’s aim of twenty…
Tell the dam truth
Tell The Dam Truth (TTDT) is a California based non-profit with initial funding from outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia. TTDT’s aim is to protect and restore free-flowing rivers by educating people…
BC Hydro sales flat, spending not
After forecasting 40 percent growth over 20 years, BC Hydro has been spending billions of dollars. But the utility’s sales to residential, commercial and industrial customers in calendar year 2023…
Condensed history of BC Hydro
Repeated here is something I wrote about BC Hydro in early 2017 for The Common Sense Canadian, an online journal covering Canada’s economy and environment. The site was co-founded by…
Socialism when necessary but not necessarily socialism
Years ago, Rafe Mair wrote that W.A.C. Bennett, if he were alive in 2009, would have been a member of the NDP, in those days a party firmly positioned on…
Less costly Site C alternatives were ignored
Many self-interested people told us that non-destructive alternatives to hydropower would not work in British Columbia. These, they said, were unreliable and could not always send power to the grid…
BC Hydro’s call for power is the wrong call
Energy-systems consultant Roger Bryenton wrote an open letter to Premier David Eby, BC Hydro CEO Chris O’Riley, and BCUC Chair Mark Jaccard. It is published here with permission.
BC Hydro numbers
BC Hydro has often said that demand for electricity in this region is growing at a rate of 40 percent in 20 years. The company claims population increases result in…
Misdirected energy policies
In 2018, BC Hydro began discouraging the production of solar power in British Columbia. Customers with solar panels had been allowed a two-way connection to the grid. When they fed…
You couldn’t stop solar if you wanted to stop solar
Worldwide solar energy capacity has been growing rapidly. In 2022, it was 150 times higher than in 2006 and more than double the level of 2018 when BC Hydro moved…
Strategic misrepresentation (AKA lying)
So, who has been responsible for strategic misrepresentation that has damaged BC Hydro? Responsible Ministers and MLAs are driven by love of megaprojects, but they may also have experienced the…
Can we believe anything we are told about BC Hydro?
BC Hydro’s own numbers provide evidence that increased demand by domestic consumers over 20 years was less than one-third of that predicted and was double covered by the utility’s purchases…
Super cheap electricity
Seattle based writer David Roberts reports on energy matters. Recently Roberts explored the variability of renewable energy. Opponents of wind and solar power rely on this subject to raise objections.…
Public utility money pit
Today, charts about BC Hydro showing information that ought to alarm citizens of British Columbia. It will not of course, because corporate media does not bother to report meaningful data…