-Run of the river projects (BC Hydro buys electricity from them after selling the water rights)
-Selling of electricity to the US
-buying electricity from Alberta
-21st Century reality
-Gordon Campbell lives in an apartment with his lights always on
BC Utilities Commission
[a href="vny!://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/kelownacapitalnews/news/60440252.html"]vny!://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/kelownacapitalnews/news/60440252.html[/a]
The cost of electric home heating has been rising since 2008 and will continue to rise through 2012 as B.C. Hydro finances its mega projects in the province to keep up with consumer demand. Over the last four years, homes heated with electricity have seen an average increase of $500.
[a href="vny!://www.bclocalnews.com/opinion/81188377.html"]vny!://www.bclocalnews.com/opinion/81188377.html[/a]
As a result, it's cutting the amount of power it proposes to buy from independent power producers in the Clean Call for electricity, which closed Nov. 25, 2008 from 5,000 gigawatt hours per year to 3,000 gigawatt hours per year.[/p]The total amount of potential power bid in response to the call was 17,000 gigawatt hours annually, so Hydro's decision will leave a lot more disappointed bidders on the sidelines.[/p]"We're moving ahead with our plan [but] in light of recent economic indicators, at least over the short term we need to be more cautious in our predictions for growth," Hydro spokeswoman Susan Danard said Monday in an interview.[/p]Danard said adjustments are made each year to Hydro's long-term plans to acquire electricity, so there's nothing unusual about a projected change in demand.[/p]Business Council of B.C. executive vice-president Jock Finlayson agreed that growth in demand for power "will obviously moderate as a consequence of a much weaker economy."[/p]But Finlayson said he nonetheless found Hydro's decision curious because electricity demand will grow over the medium and long term — and Hydro must also meet the provincial government's requirement to eliminate its dependence on imported power by 2016.[/p]Energy sector commentator David Austin said he was puzzled because the cutback failed to take full account of the demand growth that could soon emerge with the popularity of plug-in hybrid cars, a booming natural gas sector in northeast B.C., and government actions to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels.[/p]Paul Taylor, president and CEO of NaiKun Wind Energy Group, said he remained confident that the company has all the attributes, including proven technology and community support, to ensure its bid to develop a 396-megawatt offshore wind farm in Hecate Strait will be accepted by Hydro.[/p]Melissa Davis, executive director of BC Citizens for Public Power, said Hydro's decision casts in doubt the "grossly inflated" numbers Hydro and the government previously used to bolster the case for private-sector development of new electricity generating sources in B.C.[/p]"Public power proponents and many environmental groups recognize that the government has been manufacturing an energy crisis to line the pockets of private power producers," Davis said.[/p][a href="vny!://www.vancouversun.com/business/Hydro+slows+green+energy+development/1148747/story.html"]vny!://www.vancouversun.com/business/Hydro+slows+green+energy+development/1148747/story.html[/a]
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