Energy portfolio could blow up in Clark’s face
Justine Hunter, Globe and Mail, Jun 02 2013
VICTORIA — Premier Christy Clark will announce her new cabinet on Friday: Pity the new energy minister who has to find a credible way to power all her liquefied natural gas ambitions, while managing a gaping financial hole in BC Hydro’s books.
B.C. vows to continue fight over costly U.S. ruling on power sales to California
Canadian Press, Times Colonist, Feb 22 2013
VICTORIA - The massive, energy windfall British Columbia pocketed more than a decade ago at the expense of power-starved Californians has sparked an ongoing high-voltage legal case that currently has an arm of Crown-owned BC Hydro potentially owing hundreds of millions of dollars.
B.C. defends Powerex in California price-fixing complaint
CBC News, Feb 21, 2013
B.C. taxpayers could end up refunding Californians millions in electricity sales
The B.C. government and official opposition are defending a BC Hydro subsidiary that is accused of manipulating energy prices during the California energy crisis more than 12 years ago.
In New England, a Natural Gas Trap
Matthew L Wald, New York Times, Feb 15 2013
Electricity prices in New England have been four to eight times higher than normal in the last few weeks, as the region’s extreme reliance on natural gas for power supplies has collided with a surge in demand for heating.
The demise of coal-fired power plants
By Steven Mufson, Washington Post, November 23 2012
In SALEM, Mass. — Peter Furniss, the fair-haired chief executive of Footprint Power, gives a tour of the aging coal and oil plant that towers over sailboats in this historic harbor.
Natural gas a better choice than Site C dam
Rick Koechl & Mike Kroecher, Times Colonist, August 3, 2012
Hydro power will cost about six times as much as new gas-fired generator
Manipulation of California energy market gives consumers a jolt
Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, July 18, 2012
The next time your electricity bill prompts you to curse your local utility, here's another target where you should direct your anger:
Clean energy exports lose steam
By Vaughn Palmer, Vancouver Sun, June 5, 2012
Two years after the B.C. Liberals pushed BC Hydro to develop clean energy for export, the drive is all but dead, a victim of the changing economics of the North American electricity market.
Booming natural-gas sector ignites debate over BC Hydro service
JUSTINE HUNTER, Globe and Mail, May 20, 2012
VICTORIA — Newcomers to British Columbia’s natural-gas sector may be denied access to BC Hydro’s electricity services as the province looks to curb costs for Hydro’s current customers.
Hydro awash in private power
By Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun, May 11, 2012
B.C. Producers running flat out
After a bumper year for precipitation in the Pacific Northwest, BC Hydro stations around British Columbia are sitting idle while independent power producers run flat out.
Rising electricity prices have little to do with renewable energy
Tim Weis, TheStar, May 5 2012
While spring in Ontario has yet to bring much rain, there’s been no shortage of mudslinging over rising electricity prices. But there’s more to it than critics of renewable energy would you have you believe: new data helps to clarify how prices are linked more to nuclear power than clean energy programs.
California clean air regulations could “wipe out” Hydro’s export revenues
By Gordon Hamilton, Vancouver Sun, January 4, 2012
California’s new carbon cap-and-trade regulations, which came into effect Jan. 1, will require BC Hydro’s power exporting arm to buy costly carbon credits on its energy exports beginning in January, 2013, likely wiping out Hydro’s primary export market and increasing the cost of electricity to B.C. consumers in the process, a B.C. energy economist said Tuesday.
Shine a light on loopholes in the electricity market
By Stephen Ewart, Calgary Herald, November 12, 2011
In a letter TransAlta president Steve Snyder wrote for today's Herald to explain how his company didn't "intentionally breach any rules or regulations" when it manipulated Alberta's electricity market last fall, he was adamant they simply "misinterpreted" the rules.
Quebec to be awash in surplus electricity
By Lynn Moore, Montreal Gazette, Postmedia News, November 13, 2011
MONTREAL — Quebec will have a bumper crop of surplus electricity over the next decade, according to a revised supply forecast by Hydro-Quebec.
Clean energy: Costs rising for California consumers
By Garance Burke and Jason Dearen, Associated Press, Christian Science Monitor, November 13, 2011
Clean energy got a boost from a 2006 California law mandating it. But some clean energy projects are so expensive, they'll raise consumers' utility bills for decades.
B.C.'s new northern industries will need twice the electricity that was forecast by B.C. Hydro
By Gordon Hamilton, Vancouver Sun, October 4, 2011
The rapid industrialization of northern B.C. is going to create almost double the demand for electricity estimated by BC Hydro, making it virtually impossible for the province to meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets, according to the Canadian Wind Energy Association.
Millions laid out in Tahltan deal
Staff Writer, Terrace Standard, June 08, 2011
THE TAHLTAN Nation stands to gain more than $500 million in benefits over the lifetime of three run-of-river hydro electric projects being built on its traditional territory, Tahltan leaders estimate.
Powering our future requires dollars
By Pierre Guimond, Vancouver Sun, March 10, 2011
Canada's electricity grid was not built for the Internet age, the green economy -or a population of 35 million
Conservation Pricing: Can it be Environmentally Effective and Economically Fair?
Stephanie Taylor & George Hoberg, Green Policy Prof, March 1, 2011
Electricity pricing in BC is a concept that is little understood, yet frequently the subject of grumbling by ratepayers, especially when rates are going up. Recent proposals by BC Hydro to raise rates by 50% over the next five years have been criticized by media and energy experts. In our last post on electricity pricing, we outlined current and alternative rate-setting mechanisms. We also introduced readers to the concept of conservation pricing. This post delves further into conservation pricing, exploring both its benefits and its drawbacks.
An Interesting Spin
Marvin Shaffer, CCPA Policy Notes, February 23, 2011
How Electricity Pricing Works in British Columbia
Stephanie Taylor & George Hoberg, Green Policy Prof, February 17, 2011
In the midst of a spending blitz, BC Hydro has applied to the BC Utilities Commission (BCUC) to increase residential electricity rates by an estimated 10% per year over the next three years. BC Hydro, which announced the rate changes on December 2, 2010 expects the increase to take effect in April 2011, assuming BCUC approval. The news release explains that the Crown Corporation is investing $6 billion over three years to provide essential upgrades to aging transmission and generation facilities, add significant new transmission capacity, increase capacity at the Mica and Revelstoke dams, and install smart meters in every household.
Report reveals gaps in BC’s electricity export policy framework
News Release, Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, February 10, 2010
If British Columbia ramps up production to become a major electricity exporter there is no guarantee the province will gain new market access, warns new research out today from the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS).
