Thursday, July 11, 2013

Blame BC Liberal appointed Board of Directors for big 30% BC Hydro rate hikes to come


Ask BC Hydro's Board of Liberal Pals to Explain Rate Hikes
 
BC Hydro headquarters in Vancouver
Because it's consumers who'll pay for the Crown corporation's fiscal fiasco.
Bill Tieleman’s 24 Hours Vancouver/The Tyee column
Tuesday July 9, 2013
By Bill Tieleman
This is not the first surprise I've had from BC Hydro and I can tell you I'm pretty sure it's not gonna be the last one... when I have to I'm going to read them the riot act."
- Energy Minister Bill Bennett, July 4, 2013.
If Bill Bennett wants to get to the bottom of BC Hydro's lack of disaster preparedness and huge cost overruns forcing big rate increases for consumers, he doesn't need to read the riot act.
Just read the BC Hydro Board of Directors list and then ask any one of the many BC Liberal Party donors and insiders appointed by his government.
Premier Christy Clark's own chief of staff Dan Doyle was BC Hydro chair until he took over his current job in September 2012, replacing Ken Boessenkool, who resigned after he committed "inappropriate" acts.
And Clark's constant companion on the BC Liberal tour during the 28-day election campaign was Brad Bennett, a BC Hydro director and party stalwart. Brad is son of ex-premier Bill Bennett, but has no relation to the minister.
If there's any surprise, it's for BC Hydro ratepayers who will get hosed with significantly higher electricity bills of likely 30 per cent over three years because the government and board were playing with the Crown corporation's finances like it was Monopoly money.

And that's where the buck should stop, instead of being charged to the smart meters imposed on British Columbians -- another $1-billion boondoggle.
Instead, Bennett, Bennett and Clark presided over the pillage of BC Hydro revenue to balance the government budget through dozens of "deferral accounts" approaching $5 billion that will eventually have to be repaid through rate hikes.
And they implemented ex-premier Gordon Campbell's massive gift to independent power producers, forcing BC Hydro to buy their unneeded, high-priced electricity at costs far in excess of available market rate power.
In the year ending March 2012, BC Hydro paid IPPs $676 million -- more than double the price of imported energy available on the market then.
And BC Hydro has IPP contract obligations of $50 billion over the next 25 years.
The family BC Hydro
But don't expect a BC Hydro board full of BC Liberal insiders in addition to Brad Bennett to worry.
Current chair Stephen Bellringer has given the BC Liberals over $52,000 since 2006, Elections BC records show; 
Director Larry Blain ran Partnerships BC, the government's privatization operation, for years; 
Director Jamie Brown is the ex-president of Canaccord Genuity, who together with parent firm Canaccord Financial has given over $370,000 to the party since 2005: 
Director John Knappett, a construction company owner, has given thousands to the BC Liberals and is a former director of the Independent Businesses and Contractors Association, a significant donor to the BC Liberals that has also run its own anti-NDP ad campaigns; 
Director Tracey McVicar has extensive links to key party and government figures, as well as corporate connections to the smart meter program and $5,000 in party donations since 2009; and 
Director James Hatton has given $2,500 to the BC Liberals since 2007.
BC Hydro also has senior staff with long BC Liberal links, including executive vice-president Susan Yurkovitch, who was parachuted into a job that now pays over $385,000 after helping run the 2005 election campaign, and who has donated to the party.
Steve Vanagas, BC Hydro's director of communications and public affairs, was ex-premier Gordon Campbell's deputy chief of staff for communications and now collects over $240,000 a year.
Meanwhile, Bill Bennett is blowing off enough steam about the $175 million-cost overrun on the Northwest Transmission Line to be a power source himself.
"How is it that BC Hydro can't estimate its costs accurately? The problem with this project is that BC Hydro does not operate like a business," Bennett claimed.
Actually, BC Hydro does operate like a business -- a BC Liberal family-owned monopoly that runs on political nepotism, not the best interests of its customers.
It's BC Hydro consumers forced to pay for this fiscal fiasco that should read the riot act to this government.

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

No, I'll blame the dumb f--ks that lost to this band of thieves.

Anonymous said...

So how is this different from when the NDP packed BC Hydro with people like John Laxton and Eric Elissen??

The NDP if they became government would pack BC Hydro with their own people, no doubt.

That is assuming of course the NDP were actually knew what they were doing during the election, which obviously they weren't.

The only dumb f-ks that elected this band of thieves were those who supported the direction the NDP took.

Anonymous said...

The customers of BC Hydro back in the 1990 read the riot act to the NDP goverment back then.

The government didn't listen.

Anonymous said...

The difference is that the Linos directed Hydro to buy all its power from private contractors and stopped Hydro from developing its own power sources along with other issues that you can take the time to get acquainted with but of course you are a Lino flunk head and that would not be very convenient for your liberal denial of the state of affairs that will require these huge increases which is the point of the story you conveniently overlooked flunk head.

Anonymous said...

Seems Anonymous who posted on Monday afternoon didn't get another bowl of Count Chocula Monday morning

Is this blog going down in quality even from left wingers?

Anonymous said...

The ipp are the ones to blame. But this is how free enterprize works. Isn t it wonderful. We can force those people on fixed incomes to eat a little less so they can have a light on at night. You bunch of greedy pigs. I see there are three of those greedy pigs snorting there message above.

Anonymous said...

Anon. 9:43 is right. Moving elsewhere. Too many trolls here.

Anonymous said...

"Moving elsewhere. Too many trolls here."

Especially those from the left wing.

This blog jumped the shark months ago.