British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority

Quick Facts

  • Established: 1962
  • Owner: Government of British Columbia
  • Previous Names: BC Power Commission, BC Electric
  • Industry: Electricity Generation and Distribution
  • Website: bchydro.com

Background

There is a good history page on the BC Hydro website.

There is a new British Columbia Transmission Corporation which is responsible for most of the electricity transmission in British Columbia. Responsibilities shifted from BC Hydro to this new crown corporation in August, 2003.

The Privatize.CA Conclusion

  1. The grid should be open to anyone to use with a wheeling fee charged
    for use (1 cent per KWh is a reasonable rate) – if one company makes power and sells
    it, they should only have to pay a fee for it being wheeled through the grid.
  2. BC Hydro’s public ownership means constant political interfernce in
    the rates the company can charge – electricity is so undervalued
    that heating electricity is still a reasonable option.
  3. One company means British Columbians can not choose who they buy power from – it should
    be an individual’s right to buy power from whomever they want, be it “Bob’s Gabriola
    Solar” or “Homer’s Nuke”. British Columbians are already allowed to choose their oil suppiler, phone
    supplier, and many other things. Why can British Columbians not choose their electrical
    supplier?
  4. As long as BC Hydro remains government owned, it does not pay property
    taxes – in a number rural communities and on First Nation reserves, the
    biggest industrial land user is BC Hydro, but they do not pay property
    tax, though they give small grants in lieu.
  5. BC has a huge amount of capital tied up in the infrastructure of BC
    Hydro – selling the production locations would bring in billions of
    dollars – each should be auctioned separately.
  6. BC Hydro as a Crown Corporation can not be sued as if it was a private
    company. BC Hydro has used its position as a major Crown Corporation to take
    peoples homes, to avoid responsibility for negligence and generally to
    act in the interests of political masters and not the public as
    consumers or shareholders.
  7. BC has the potential to produce huge amounts of microhydro, tidal,
    cogeneration, and wind power. Bc Hydro has been a big impediment to
    this – they will not offer real rates for the power and will not allow
    someone in BC to export the power to the United States. BC Hydro’s costly and
    lengthy process to become a supplier for them has stopped dozens of
    green power projects.