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As Hydro Rates Climb, an Idea to Reduce Bills for Low-income Folks

February 27, 2016

As Hydro Rates Climb, an Idea to Reduce Bills for Low-income Folks 

Advocates pitch affordability program, but minister insists rates are modest.

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‘Most other jurisdictions in North America have bill affordability programs. We don’t.’ Bill photo via Shutterstock.

With electricity rates continuing to spiral upwards, an advocacy organization is pushing to have BC Hydro adopt measures to make bills more affordable for people surviving on low incomes.

“Most other jurisdictions in North America have bill affordability programs,” said Sarah Khan, a lawyer with the British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Centre. “We don’t.”

Confirmation of the latest BC Hydro rate hike came Friday when president and CEO Jessica McDonald said the Crown utility is seeking to raise rates by four per cent on April 1, consistent with a 10-year plan set out in 2013.

BC Hydro rates have gone up by 50 per cent over the past 10 years and they are scheduled to go up another 11 per cent over the next three years, Khan said.

They’ll rise even further when the $10-billion Site C dam is completed on the Peace River and customers start paying for it, she said.

Meanwhile, the provincial minimum wage and welfare rates haven’t kept up while the cost of living has become more expensive, leaving many struggling to pay their bills, Khan said.

The advocacy centre has a proposal to make bills more affordable for some 170,000 families in B.C. who live below the low-income cut-offs set by Statistics Canada, around $32,000 a year for a family of four depending on what size community they live in.

On behalf of seven anti-poverty and seniors’ groups, the centre plans to submit the proposal in April as part of BC Hydro’s ongoing rate design review in front of the B.C. Utilities Commission. Launched by the provincial government, the review’s mandate includes evaluating the current rate structures to ensure they are fair.

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