Auditor General John Doyle stated they are creating; "the appearance of profitability where none exists ... they are creating a burden on ratepayers in the future"

BC Hydro and smart meters are back in the news again.  It has always been my belief that the main reason for smart meters being pushed on us by government had little to do with saving energy; instead the push was to have an increased revenue source. 

After all, the BC government does drain revenues, from BC Hydro, which are then lost in a black hole called General Revenue.

To give what I believe is clarity to the push for Smart Meters, lets sandwich the comments of Energy Minister Rich Coleman (Surrey Leader) -- along with the words of a BC Hydro Media Advisor (Kamloops Daily News) ... and those of a Corix employee (Kamloops Daily News) -- between two news stories from the CBC in 2011:

CBC NEWS -- Oct 27th, 2011

B.C.’s auditor general says BC Hydro has deferred $2.2 billion in current expenses that he says sooner or later, Hydro customers will have to pay for.

 

SURREY LEADER -- January 31st, 2013
Energy Minister Rich Coleman says smart meters won't be forced into homes over the next few months but he denied reports the province has reversed its policy and will let objectors opt out of having the wireless devices.  "We're going back to talk to our customers ... We'll not force any customer to take a meter."

 

KAMLOOPS DAILY NEWS -- February 1st, 2013
... after Liberals Rich Coleman and Gordon Hogg said meter opponents won’t be required to take the devices — a Corix employee showed up at Wendy Johnson’s Oak Hills home and insisted smart meters are being ordered for all B.C. homes.

“He said ‘Ma’am, we’ve been ordered to put meters on every house.’ He turned around and put on the meter,” Johnson said.

Greg Alexis, B.C. Hydro’s senior media relations advisor: “B.C. Hydro is continuing to work with customers and will not install a new meter unless we have the customer’s permission."

CBC NEWS -- November 2nd, 2011

In his report (Auditor General John) Doyle was also critical of the BC government for allowing Hydro to continue using accounting practices that he does not consider transparent.

"... transparency that is essential to understanding BC Hydro’s financial condition as a standalone enterprise ... describing objectively the results of financial management using an agreed-upon reporting framework. In our view, rate-regulated accounting as it is being practiced is not consistent with this objective."

 

Time-Of-Day Billing -- which will allow BC Hydro to charge us more during peak times of the day when we need it most -- cannot begin unless BC Hydro is able to get the meters installed in every home across the province. 

Successive NDP and BC Liberal governments have drained BC Hydro of revenue to feed their ever increasing thirst to spend more and more.  This has left BC Hydro in a precarious financial position -- and not having the resources it needs to find ways of increasing power generation.

And ... both NDP and BC Liberal governments have used BC Hydro as a cash cow to go on spending frenzies -- and in doing so they have left this public entity in serious financial trouble.

Auditor General John Doyle has stated they are creating; "the appearance of profitability where none exists ... they are creating a burden on ratepayers in the future."

In closing I ask you, "Is this the kind of accountability and integrity we should be getting from our government?"  I've asked the question, but truly, how could anyone answer "Yes" to it?

I'm Alan Forseth in Kamloops ... with the thoughts of one conservative.