British Columbia Utilities Commission
Box 250, 900 Howe Street Sixth Floor Vancouver, B.C. V6Z 2N3

Re: Conservation Rate two-tiered billing

I write to you with an urgent request that you reconsider the two-tiered rate system implemented by Fortis in summer of 2012.

As an Electoral Area Director for the Regional District of the Okanagan-Similkameen, I represent about 2200 residents in approximately 3600 square kilometers of the Similkameen Valley in southern interior British Columbia.

Many of the residents in this area are elderly, on pensions or fixed incomes, and their homes are often either historic or modular, neither of which are particularly energy efficient.

A resident of Hedley relayed his story to me: he owns a 1400 sq ft older home for which he paid $220 for an energy audit. He was able to do a number of upgrades and is taking advantage of the now cancelled Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN) eco-energy re-fit homes Fortis program. Renovations cost about $1400 for insulation, $1200 for dry-walling, $166 blown insulation, $75 to rent the machine to blow the insulation in, $200 labour for the person blowing it in. Rewiring was needed, as well as new outlets and vapour barrier which the homeowner was able to do himself.

Old baseboard heaters were replaced by more energy efficient ones. This customer is energy conscious, took advantage of consumer programs, is on a fixed income but had inheritance that he was able to use to finance this renovation. After the renovations were performed, his energy audit cost another $212. The air source heat pump, recommended- or a natural gas heater will cost another several thousand dollars. His renovations to date are approximately $7000 for materials and much of his own labour; a $1400 rebate will be forthcoming. His January 2013 bill was $560.

One of my Olalla residents informed me that his entire pension cheque went to paying his power bill. He is astonished and reeling in surprise, wondering how to pay for his medications, food, and driving his car. Can you imagine paying your entire monthly income to only your power bill? How would that impact your life?

It is unfair to apply a “conservation rate” to those residents who do not have access to natural gas. Many people will now choose to burn wood again, making the “clean energy” component of this initiative a farce.

I predict that the devastating effects of this conservation rate will be an increased personal harm coming to those residents made desperate by the onerous charges Fortis has been regulated to apply by the BC Utilities Commission.

My greatest fear is that the residents unable to afford these electrical bills in a mild winter like we just had will come up with their own innovations, like bringing propane stoves indoors and doing whatever they can to stay warm for next winter. We’ll see a rise in house fires ripping through trailer parks and find charred bodies huddled around makeshift stoves when we look for the cause of the conflagration.

I urge you to consider either an increase to the tier to which the conservation rate is applied from 1600kw to 2500kw, or a billing relief registry for customers who do not have any choice but to heat with only electricity.

I look forward to discussing these options with you.

Angelique Wood
Electoral Area ‘G’ (Keremeos Rural/Hedley)