Former B.C. Hydro president Michael Costello, who had an annual salary of $439,849, ran up $56,405 in business expenses last year. CREDIT: Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER - A $310 staff meeting for three over food at the Point Grey Golf and Country Club.

A night's stay in a $603-a-night hotel in Chicago.

And a round-trip flight from Vancouver to Ottawa with a price tag of $4,079.

Those are just some of the expenses racked up by senior B.C. Hydro executives, according to internal expense records obtained by The Vancouver Sun.

According to the records, senior executives with the public utility routinely eat at some of the most expensive restaurants in the city and end up paying exorbitant prices for airfare by booking at the last minute in business class -- even to conferences whose dates are set months in advance.

Elisha Moreno, spokeswoman for B.C. Hydro, said executive expenses are "a cost of doing business" and said Hydro executives' expenses are justified.

"All of the expenses listed ... were approved," she said in a written response to questions. "Expenses represent only a small, but necessary, percentage of B.C. Hydro's revenues, which in 2003 were more than $4.4 billion."

Just last month, B.C. Hydro was awarded an interim rate increase of 7.23 per cent by the B.C. Utilities Commission. That will result in the average homeowner paying $58 more a year for power.

Full public hearings on the increase will begin May 17.

John Young, executive director of Citizens for Public Power, a group that opposes the rate increase, said he was troubled by the extent of the executives' expenses.

"Yes, senior executives travel," said Young. "[But] should they always be flying business class and staying in $600-a-night hotels? I don't think that's the best use of ratepayers' dollars."

The expense records were obtained by the Sun under the Freedom of Information Act and cover a roughly two-year period from the summer of 2001 to the fall of 2003.

Hydro also volunteered additional records on its executives' expenses in response to questions from the Sun.

One of the biggest expenses revealed in the documents is airfare -- in part because many executives book their flights at the last minute and in business class.

This is despite the fact that many of those last-minute bookings are to conferences and association meetings, most of which have their dates set well in advance.

For example:

-Then-president Michael Costello (who is now president of the newly created B.C. Transmission Corporation) paid $4,520.51 in January 2002 for a round-trip flight to New York for the World Economic Forum and $4,079.09 in November 2002 for a round-trip flight to Ottawa for a meeting of the Canadian Electricity Association.

-Then-chief-executive officer Larry Bell (now Hydro's chair) paid $4,266.80 in March 2003 for a round-trip flight to Miami for the Accenture International Utilities and Energy Conference and $3,858.51 for a round-trip flight to Toronto this past September for a speech to the Conference Board of Canada.

During some of his trips, Bell stayed at very expensive hotels.

During trips to New York in both 2002 and 2003, Bell stayed at The Drake hotel on Park Avenue at a cost of more than $500 a night.

And a visit to Chicago in November 2001 included a one-night stay at the Chicago O'Hare Hilton at a cost of $603.66.

Moreno said The Drake was recommended to Bell by the people he was meeting with in New York and the O'Hare Hilton was the most central for the meetings he had to attend.

Young said he doesn't understand why Hydro executives can't book their flights to conferences and meetings earlier, to save money.

"These are things that are on the calendar months, if not years, in advance," he said.

But Moreno said Hydro often has little choice but to pay last-minute fares.

"Bookings are made as far as possible in advance as often as possible," she said. "However, executive schedules are extremely busy and tend to change at a moment's notice. It is often more economical and efficient to book later when it is more certain that an executive can attend."

Young said if executives have to book last-minute, they should at least fly economy.

"I've flown to New York," he said. "It's not that brutal to sit in the back with the rest of us."

Moreno said Hydro's policy is that executives should fly economy for any flight under four hours, but are entitled to business class for anything longer.

The expense accounts obtained by The Sun also reveal senior Hydro executives regularly hold business meetings at high-end restaurants.

Different executives seem to prefer different restaurants.

Ray Aldeguer, B.C. Hydro's general counsel and senior vice-president of corporate resources, appears to be a fan of Gotham Steakhouse, eating there four times in 2001.

On March 7, he picked up the $170 tab for a meal with three other people to discuss Hydro's preparations for its upcoming rate review.

Yakout Mansour, then-vice-president of grid operations for Hydro (now a senior vice-president at the Transmission Corporation), paid $225.76 on July 12, 2001, to take two people from a Brazilian electricity research organization to Morton's Steakhouse.

And David Harrison, then-executive vice-president of shared services (now vice-chair of Accenture Business Services, which has taken over some operations from Hydro), held several meetings in 2002 with Hydro staff at the Point Grey Golf and Country Club.

Those meetings included:

- A $310.85 meal for three people on Oct. 29, 2002, to discuss outsourcing.

- A $347.58 meal for four on Sept. 23, 2002, to discuss business development.

Young said he doesn't think Hydro staff need to go out for an expensive meal to discuss internal business.

"I don't dispute that they have to meet," he said. "And they have to meet in a functional business environment. But I'm sure B.C. Hydro has that at their office tower. Meeting at the golf and country club isn't something people would support."

Moreno said decisions about where to hold a staff meeting are based, in part, on the "sensitivity" of the meeting and whether non-Hydro staff are taking part.

She said senior executives "are responsible and accountable for deciding where to have outside meetings."

Jock Finlayson, executive vice-president of policy at the Business Council of B.C., said he couldn't comment on whether Hydro executives' expenses are appropriate.

But he said they are similar to what one would expect from senior executives at a similarly sized private company.

"A lot of senior executives do rack up significant expenses associated with the conduct of their professional duties," Finlayson said. "These numbers, from a private sector point of view, aren't particularly jarring."

According to Hydro's most recent financial statements, for the fiscal year ending March 1, 2003, the senior Hydro executives with the highest expenses overall were:

- Costello, with an annual salary of $439,849, who had $56,405 in expenses last year.

- Mansour, with an annual salary of $216,324, who had $39,871 in expenses last year.

- Bell, with an annual salary of $383,393, who had $37,728 in expenses last year.

Young said he was troubled by the extent of Hydro executives' expenses.

"It's up to public officials to demonstrate the best behaviour and prudence with ratepayers' dollars," he said. "I don't think these expense accounts measure up to that test."

cskelton@png.canwest.com