THE ISSUE

One of B.C.'s great economic advantages has been the low cost of electricity, as a result of the enormous dams built after the Social Credit party nationalized our provincial utility. However, such projects are hardly desirable now, and even under the NDP government the BC Hydro behemoth proved resistant to small-scale power projects that will help create a more sustainable, environmentally friendly power infrastructure. And as a public utility, BC Hydro has become a political enterprise. Some critics argue BC Hydro helped NDP governments balance budgets at the expense of renewing its infrastructure. Others argue that under the BC Liberals it's become a showpiece for the ideology of privatization.

Of course, it's complicated

No party is likely to argue that a strong, publicly owned utility is undesirable. How that utility can best operate in a flexible manner that serves the public interest and protects the environment is a fraught issue, especially given that BC Hydro must buy and sell power internationally to effectively manage supply.

The bottom line

What plan does your party have for expanding and renewing BC Hydro infrastructure? Should BC Hydro obtain new power from private sources in B.C. or build new sources itself? Should BC Hydro expand its role in the international power marketplace?

THE ANSWERS

Green Party of BC

We believe that BC Hydro should be a fully public corporation, including not only ownership of power generation, but also power transmission. For the most part, we believe that BC Hydro should build new sources of energy, but that the focus should be on new, alternative energy technologies such as wind and tidal power. We believe the role of BC Hydro is to provide British Columbians with affordable energy based on triple bottom line accounting practices. The sale of power to the United States poses significant risks under NAFTA regulations for our sovereign control of energy resources. We would ensure that current levels are not exceeded in the future.

BC Liberals

The Liberal platform is vague on BC Hydro infrastructure, but it does mention its legislation that ensures Hydro's core assets will remain publicly owned, and it notes that $800 million was given to Hydro to fund 16 green energy projects. But in discussing its environmental policy, the Liberals have created a new energy policy with targets of creating 50 percent of all new electricity through renewable power sources. The Liberals 2002 energy plan allows private companies to better access the energy market. The Liberals split B.C. Hydro into two publicly owned companies: B.C. Hydro, which will take care of generating power from B.C.'s existing dams, purchasing power from private producers and sending it to its customers; and B.C. Hydro Transmission, which will deal with transmission lines. Administrative work like payroll and human resources was turned over to Accenture, a private firm. The Liberal government also prohibited B.C. Hydro from building new power plants -new projects must be private. "Heritage legislation" is supposed to keep the price of power from hydro dams cheap but allow private power costs to fluctuate. Critics say that the Liberal moves are a form of privatization and that rates will rise sharply. In 2003 the Vancouver Sun wrote that B.C. Hydro is in favour of these changes to keep itself in the U.S. electricity market. U.S. regulations require transmission companies to be held separately from generation and distribution companies like B.C. Hydro. BC Hydro's Duke Point gas-fired power plant, originally an NDP project, was rejected by the BC Utilities Commission (which oversees BC Hydro) on the grounds that cheaper private options existed. Hydro had already spent $100 million on plant equipment for the project, which is now expected to proceed as a private project.

NDP

The NDP platform says the party will allow B.C. Hydro to build power plants, and aims to make Hydro a leader in green power by supporting small, green electricity projects in reaching their "full commercial potential." However, critics say that under the NDP government's rate freezes, B.C. Hydro did not have adequate revenue and did not satisfactorily upgrade its infrastructure. In 2003 Hydro reported that it would spend $2 billion over the next three years in renewing its generation and transmission assets. It was spurred by study that year ranked Hydro's equipment in the first and second quartiles for cost and performance, but rated them poorly for maintenance and upgrades to their assets. Hydro's rates increased in April 2004 by 4.85 per cent, following a freeze that had been in place since 1993.

Democratic Reform BC Answer is pending.