Tired of two-tier plan and freezing in the dark | Oliver Chronicle – Oliver Chronicle

(The following letter is addressed to MLA Linda Larson.)

Four years ago when you applied for the job as our MLA you were (as were all other candidates) outraged at the high cost of electricity from FortisBC. For a while you made mention of your efforts in your publications to the constituents of Boundary-Similkameen. Of late there has been little news.

I cannot for the life of me understand why this punitive two-tiered billing system is being continued. I have for four years complained to you, to the BC Utilities Commission and to the people through the newspapers about how unfair this billing practice is to people with electric heat. This system was forced upon the electric utility by the BC Utilities Commission who received their instructions from your government. During the initial hearings to establish this reverse Robin Hood billing plan, Fortis told the commission that this change would be devastating to electric heat customers. No one at the commission listened because they had their marching orders from your government. Electric heat customers were just collateral damage to their plan.

Should we take out our anger and frustration on FortisBC? No we should not. This policy was ordered to be implemented by your Liberal government, and to this day your government continues to defend this unfair billing system.

If your government did not wish people to use electricity for home space heating all they had to do was change the building codes to ban the use of electricity for space heating. This has not been done. In fact the concept of heating electrically was promoted with rebates and allowances to install heat pumps. So now all of the folks that do not have access to gas are now stuck with a heating system that has become so expensive that electric heat users must take drastic actions to find enough money to pay the electric bill or freeze in the dark.

I can guarantee you that poorly heated homes result in illness which can and will impact upon medical costs to the province.

My latest electric bill was for $279.59 for Jan. 4 through to March 6. One could say what are you complaining about? This is a reasonable cost especially considering the very harsh winter. I ask you to bear with me here. For this sum I was able to keep my house at 16.3 C for January and 15 C in February. I ran out of Tier 1 rates on February 13, which meant that the 20 days left in the billing period were all at 15.617 cents for every kWh used. If we had dared to keep the house at 20 C during the day and 17 C at night our cost would be approximately double what we actually paid.

I have installed a high efficiency heat pump, energy saving appliances, energy efficient lighting, a timer on my hot water tank (it runs only eight hours per day), energy saving window coverings, insulated our heating/cooling duct work, installed solar film for summer heat reduction and we practice preventing energy waste by not having any electrical item left on when not in use. We seldom use the electric oven and select foods that we can cook using the less costly microwave. Our house has an energy efficiency rating of 82.7 out of a possible 83 points for a home of this vintage. We can do nothing more except pay the inflated rates or freeze in the dark.

Your government likes to say that electric consumption has declined under the tiered pricing. You are mistaken in this belief.

I do not want something for nothing. I already pay above the cost of production. All I ask is a flat rate (fair to all) or at the very least a different winter rate structure for electric heat users.

My final option now is to not vote for any government or party which refuses to correct this unfair billing practice. Therefore I will not support your re-election and neither will I vote for the NDP party who also is not listening to the rural electric customers who do not have access to natural gas and who are penalized for wanting heat in their homes at a fair price with an environmentally clean product.

I suggest to everyone who can, to switch to a fuel source which is priced fairly, although these options have detrimental environmental consequences.

I am tired of freezing in the dark. Your government does not offer tax subsidies for solar installations and obviously supports the use of polluting fuels over clean options.

I am sure that the Liberal government knows that there are more voters who heat with gas than there are those who depend upon electricity for their space heating.

We who oppose two tiered billing are not going away and will not give up fighting for what is fair.

James B. McGinnigle, Oliver

Read more from the original source:
Tired of two-tier plan and freezing in the dark | Oliver Chronicle - Oliver Chronicle