Just got my hydro bill $983

BC Hydro is a crown corporation with a mandate to generate electricity at low cost

As they have been for over 50 years. We have had historically low prices.

Exactly. So why are you advocating we suddenly do away with our low rates?

Exactly. So why are you advocating we suddenly do away with our low rates?

Because the current rates are too low to even deal with necessary upgrades etc. Funny, often happens when the government runs something, rather than private enterprises (ie. Alberta oil).

So we're raising rates, but where does the notion that we must raise them to levels paid elsewhere come from?

Maybe we should be doing what Alberta does and seek handsome royalties from electricity exports. After all, it's our resource and much of North America is facing an electricity generation problem and high generation costs, hence their much higher rates.

So we're raising rates, but where does the notion that we must raise them to levels paid elsewhere come from?

Norway? #1 best country in the world.

A hell of a stretch? Suggesting that low prices drive increased demand? That's well before Economics 101, that's elementary school economics. It's no stretch, it's an iron-fast rule of real-world economics that even the most dim gradeschool child should be able to grasp.

Low prices increase demand. That much is obvious and was never under debate.

You're claiming that low prices are the reason for high pollution. Yes they will contribute to pollution, but they certainly aren't the whole reason. Lax regulation on pollution control from cars is a huge part, nevermind that it's impractical to be riding your bike around the desert in 50 degree heat. You boiling this down to low prices being the reason for high automobile pollution is very simplistic.

A few posts back, someone mentioned how UAE had a fairly high human development index. Guess who has #1. Norway, and they also have the second-highest gas price at the pumps in the world.

Before you went off on your rant you should have realized that this indicates the price of gas is not the key factor here. That theory might satisfy that dim gradeschool kid, but in reality the price of gas is only one of millions of factors that explain the difference between Saudi Arabia and Norway.

Anyway, back to hydro. Would low hydro prices increase demand? Yes, slightly. But how much really? I suspect it won't make much difference. It's still not free so people are not inclined to waste it, and the rest of the world still has high prices and dictate the drive to high efficiency. Even with low rates, BC residents will still use modern high efficiency appliances, and LED bulbs, and low-draw this and that. We still benefit from high prices elsewhere, even without having to pay them directly.

Because the current rates are too low to even deal with necessary upgrades etc. Funny, often happens when the government runs something, rather than private enterprises (ie. Alberta oil).

Norway? #1 best country in the world.

Surely you see the irony here...

AMAZING how all the talk about smart meters went to zero once the extra charge was implemented in order to save the holdouts the ill health effects.

 

http://www.vicnews.c.../256832791.html

 

Cost just went down slightly for holdouts.

I can't believe people are willing to pay an extra $40 on their bill just so they can have their neighbour's meter blasting them with radiation instead of their own.

^While they complain to Hydro using their cell phone.