BC Energy & Power News

BC Hydro rate hike will be costly for district by Martin van den Hemel, posted on the Richmond Review

BC Hydro rates are going up, and that will impact more than just local residents. The Richmond School District anticipates that the increase will result in an additional cost of $30,000 for the period of April to June of 2014, and for the next fiscal year, an impact of between $120,000 to $150,000. Though that figure might sound like a lot, things could have been a whole lot worse, according to minutes from the December meeting of the Richmond Board of Education. [Read More…]

Firms take advantage of energy smarts, by Frank Peebles posted The Prince George Citizen

Businesses have been saving themselves energy, in the greater Prince George region – seven figure savings. Central Interior businesses have been taking part since 2011 in the provincial government’s LiveSmart B.C. program for small companies. Small business owners can have a free energy consultant come in and audit their operations to find ways of saving heating, cooling, electricity and other energy costs. There are also some incentives through delivery companies like Fortis BC and BC Hydro to offset the cost of improving energy performance. [Read More…]

Former MLA Lekstrom sees benefits in Site C project by William Stodalka, posted on the Times Colonist

Former Peace River South MLA Blair Lekstrom spoke in favour of the proposed Site C dam to the project’s Joint Review Panel on Wednesday, saying it would make the province less reliant on outside energy sources, but acknowledged that it would come with some costs. “The impact you see is more than just the value of the home or the land – this is where they raised their families and developed their life,” he told the crowd. “All the money in the world is not going to solve the impact on these families.” Lekstrom called on the panel to look at paying the families impacted by the dam double their current land value to make up for this impact. [Read More…]