The BC Utilities Commission (BCUC) is “consulting” with you once again. This time they want your comments on the two reports by BC Hydro and Fortis. If you want to read them, you can go to BCUC’s website (bcuc.com, “current proceedings”, “BCUC RIB Rate Report”, “Hearing and Other Documents”). Fortis’ report has some useful information buried in it but they just end up making a bunch of vague statements that avoid answering the Minister’s questions. BC Hydro’s report is one big cover-up. BC Hydro insinuates that there are no adverse impacts with statements such as “BC Hydro does not find a cross-subsidy” and “BC Hydro does not find any evidence of high bill impacts on low income customers”. But the reason, of course, that they haven’t found any evidence is because they don’t want to — the analysis they present is completely biased and often isn’t even pertinent to the questions being asked.
My suggestion to you is to write in to the BCUC with something like the following statement: “BC Hydro’s and FortisBC’s reports are biased and are an attempt to cover up the truth about the adverse impacts of the two-tier rates. Neither report directly answers the questions posed by the Minister. BC Hydro’s conclusion that there is “no evidence” of cross-subsidization nor high bill impacts is unsupported by any analysis and, in fact, is directly contradicted by the many letters of comment that have been submitted to these proceedings. Both reports are unacceptable as a response to the Minister. Nick Marty is an outside expert on these matters and he has sent you a clear and concise report that honestly appraises the impacts of two-tier rates on customers like us. I strongly submit that Nick Marty’s report should be the basis of your response to the Minister.” You’re welcome to play around with the wording but it’s important that you include the sections that I underlined.
You can find my report at rib-analysis The deadline for letters of comment is November 24th. This time, the number of respondents really matters and it is open to everyone (not just those without access to natural gas). So, encourage all of your friends and neighbours to write in. For those of you who haven’t written in before, here are some instructions.
Emails are to be sent to: commission.secretary@bcuc.com
Comments are to be submitted using their letter of comment form available in PDF and Word here: letter-of-comment-pdf letter-of-comment-word
The form asks for:
Proceeding name: BCUC RIB Rate Report
Are you currently registered as an intervener or interested party: No (unless you are registered)
Name, City, Province, Email Address, Phone, Date & Comments
Many people have had problems with the PDF form so use the Word form if you can. The PDF version has a “submit by email” box but don’t click on it because it rarely works. It’s best to save these documents and then attach them to an email sent to the commission. If you can’t use either letter of comment form, then just send the commission an email with your comments and the information requested above and state upfront that you couldn’t use their two forms.
You can later go to their website (same location as where the utility reports are located) and you should find your letter posted under ” E Exhibits”. They will redact the personal info contained in the letters (such as your email address etc) so you do not have to be concerned about such information becoming public.
When you send in your emails, I suggest you bcc your MLA plus the following:
In order that your email can be easily read by those that you are bcc ing, I recommend that you repeat those comments about the utility reports being unacceptable etc, in the body of the email in addition to having them in the attached letter of comment (which those that you are bcc ing may not open and read).
Nick Marty
