The gig (abyte) is up for private power
by Damien Gillis - (republished with author permission from the Courier-Islander)
BC's independent public energy regulator and opponents of the Campbell government's private energy plan agree: Private river power is not in the public interest.

The people of BC have already unknowingly been committed to buying $31 billion of this private river power that we don't need and can't use (more on that later) - and will be paying through the nose for it for years to come. But now the jig may be up - the latest "clean power call" for new private power projects was rejected last week by the BC Utilities Commission, potentially unplugging private power in BC.

 

The government and industry got their hands caught in the cookie jar and we now have an unprecedented opportunity to halt this disastrous private power program before more damage is done to our economy and environment.

The BCUC's recent ruling on the proposed energy and acquisition plan from BC Hydro, our public power utility, did three main things:

1. It wholeheartedly approved of BC Hydro's plan to continue upgrading our public energy system, making it more efficient - a good environmental and economic investment for B.C.

2. It applauded BC Hydro's conservation ambitions but demanded it go much further, providing it with considerable resources to do so.

3. It said "no" to plans to buy another batch of expensive private river and wind power from the likes of General Electric and Plutonic power (this includes the duo's largest proposed project in nearby Bute Inlet, which we estimate would carry an approx. $20 billion contract all on its own, to be paid for by you and me through astronomical future power bills). The regulator determined BC Hydro had not demonstrated a need for the power and that it was not in the public interest. This backs up our position that the government and industry have been misleading the public about our true energy needs, confirmed by data from StatsCan and the National Energy Board.


First of all, it vindicates what many opponents of private river power - including Save Our Rivers Society - have been telling the people of BC for the past several years. It means our public regulator is doing its job, looking out for the public, and it should be applauded for that. What the ruling should mean is that the private power industry is now put on hold in BC. But this Campbell government has a long history of stomping on public bodies that disagree with it, and is already hinting at such intentions to rescue its pals in the private power industry. Energy Minister Blair Lekstrom, in response to the surprising ruling, declared defiantly, "It's full steam ahead" for their private power plans.

The first time a regional government ever said "no" to a private power project - on the Ashlu River in Squamish - the government took away citizens' and their local governments' rights to have a say on any private power projects. When the publicly elected Translink Board raised concerns over the public-private partnership deal to build the Skytrain Canada Line (which led to the Cambie merchants' fiasco), they wiped it out and replaced it with an appointed one. Expect more of the same here - only this time the people of BC need to be ready and resist. Our independent, arm's-length public regulator is there for a reason and is doing its job - steamrolling over it would be another huge slap in the face to our democracy, not to mention the future of our energy and environment in B.C.


Far from it. Our electrical system is already one of the greenest in the world - producing only two per cent of BC's total green house gas emissions, while our fossil-fuel heavy transportation sector is responsible for a whopping 40 per cent! The corporate "environmental" groups lobbying for Gordon Campbell's private energy plan attacked this BCUC ruling, saying it leads B.C. in the wrong direction in an era of climate change. And yet, they are silent on the same government's lack of public transit funding and spending of billions of critical tax dollars to pave highways over precious farmland. If B.C. wants to do its part to fight climate change, the biggest opportunity by far lies beyond our already very green electrical system (made up of 80 per cent renewable power today) and in better transportation and community planning, and increased conservation across the board.

On that note, the BCUC concurs with Save Our Rivers' expert advisory board - and many other community groups who have been critical of the Campbell private energy plan - in putting the focus on conservation and efficiency. The commission's support for an ambitious conservation program demonstrates tremendous environmental and economic wisdom. Conservation is the greenest, most affordable type of power. We believe, precisely because of the dire ramifications of climate change, that we need to be conserving our wild places and vital ecosystems, not blowing them apart with transmission lines, roads, and tunnels and pipes that divert huge portions of rivers for miles, destroying the health of our watersheds, fish and wildlife. The ruling in fact supported BC Hydro's own findings - its 2007 Energy Conservation Potential Review found that we could save enough energy to power $1.5 million homes (almost as many as we have today in BC), with a serious commitment to conservation. And upgrading our historic public power system - including new turbines in dams we already have - will provide us with more energy capacity and flexibility in our supply, without destroying new ecosystems with unnecessary private power projects.

The main reason this private power program in not in the public interest is that the majority of the power these private river projects produce comes in spring - when our public dams are full and demands at their lowest, meaning that all this private power will be for export. Only here's the kicker: since we're being suckered into paying two to three times the market rate for this power, we will have to flip it to our neighbours at a loss, driving up our power bills and taxes as BC Hydro goes from making a profit for the people of BC to being a drain on our province and economy. Our regulator blew the whistle on vastly exaggerated claims of our power needs by BC Hydro, who is really just enacting the government policy it is shackled to, whether it agrees or not. BC Hydro in fact already cut this latest private power call by 40 per cent back in January, citing the economic downturn and our decreasing energy needs as a reason we didn't need all this private power (they were publicly humiliated by then Energy Minister Dick Neufeld - who said they didn't know what they were talking about). Contrary to this government's deception of the public, B.C., our public power province, is typically a net exporter of power - this verified by StatsCan and the National Energy Board. We trade power today with our neighbours to make a profit for the people of BC, not because we can't meet our own energy needs.

The private power cheerleaders have built their attack of this ruling on one main point - that the commission insisted BC Hydro hang onto the full capacity of its Burrard Thermal gas-fired power plant in the Lower Mainland. The plant is an emergency back-up supply that is typically used for only a few weeks out of the year, if at all, in the dead of winter, when our demands are at their highest. Located close to where much of our power is consumed, it's a sensible emergency generator to keep people from freezing in their homes if a transmission line goes down from the Peace or Kootenays where our big dams are. Burrard Thermal only accounted for one per cent of our provincial electricity last year; all our regulator was saying is not to count it out as a back-up. The argument that the BCUC is championing fossil fuel dependence by rejecting private river power and refusing to decommission Burrard Thermal is simply preposterous. Since private river power comes in spring and we only use Burrard Thermal in winter, the two are apples and oranges. Yet another attempt to mislead the public to promote this private power scam.

We can all be thankful our public regulator has done its job. Now, as citizens it's time that we do ours and hold this government's feet to the fire. This private power program is day-by-day being exposed for the scam that it is and we cannot stand for the disregarding of the public interest by our government yet again. This is an excellent opportunity to ensure places like Bute Inlet are saved - not to mention our energy security and our pocket books.

 

 

 

Damien Gillis,
Save Our Rivers Society