Time of Use (TOU) Electricity Billing.

[NAB]

In spite of all the discussion, relatively minor arguments, and speculation going on regarding supply of electricity, rates, meter readings and billing methods, health concerns, legislation, etc etc.... be it Fortis, BC Hydro, or third party..... be a particular service currently on single tier or two tier billing, with or without smart meter opt-out option....

.....the bottom line is that the vast majority of RESIDENTIAL electricity consumers in BC will, in the not very distant future, have to set aside and forget everything they think they currently know about the system, rates, and how they are charged. Sure, there will be unique situations, holdouts, even technical and operational bugs from time to time. but they will be largely irrelevant in the larger scheme of things. Why? ...because the ultimate goal of the program is to facilitate an automated and reliable TOC (Time Of Use) billing system that only smartmeters can accommodate. And in that delays in getting it in place have and are providing and accumulating massive amounts of usage data over a period of a full year or more, when TOC is finally put in place "they" will have ample information to model the TOU periods and related rates for each period to maximize their revenues in BC.

Having relatives in Ontario has given me an opportunity over several years to witness and discuss their actual experiences related to their conversion to smartmeters and Time of Use metering/billing - both with those whose lifestyle permits them a certain amount of flexibility as to when they use electricity and with those who have little choice as to their times of usage. The differences in the costs between the two can be quite substantial, particularly during the heating season and increased hours of darkness.

....while I am not suggesting the BC TOU system on implementation will be an exact copy of Ontario's residential TOU billing system as it has evolved, I suspect there will be sufficient similarities that it will give BC folk a much better understanding of what is coming our way soon (like it or not) than opinion and speculation can provide, ...so give a good read to

http://www.hydroone.com/TOU/Pages/Frequ ... s.aspx#q25 ....if interested.

And for that relative small minority in BC who will hold out and opt out for whatever reason (s ), unless they have very deep pockets I doubt they will do so for very long.

Nab

[Rwede]

Why? ...because the ultimate goal of the program is to facilitate an automated and reliable TOC (Time Of Use) billing system that only smartmeters can accommodate.

Valid link to this statement, or more idle postulation on your part?

[NAB]

B.C. Hydro's timeline for introducing time-of-use billing was in its Smart Metering and Infrastructure Program business plan, submitted to the B.C. Utilities Commission in late December 2010. It was originally to be ready for introduction by July 2012 and that got delayed (then delayed again), but the installed smartmeters are already reading and transmitting the hour by hour consumption data needed to support the planned TOU billing system. Few are under the illusion that it will not happen... It will when the time is right. It will because they now can.

Nab

[Tori_K]

Here's the document NAB is referencing:

https://www.bchydro.com/content/dam/BCH ... s-case.pdf

Took a quick look, and while it doesn't seem to explicitly say they will implement time-of-use billing (use the hyphenated version when searching that PDF), they reference it and speak highly of the concept many times. Of course those changes will all have to go through their buddies at the BCUC first.

[Dizzy1]

One doesn't need a link to know that TOD billing is on its way and that is the main drive behind the new meters - its common sense and logical, from a business point of view at least.

[Tori_K]

Common sense and logical yes, but you have to admit the cry of "links to prove your statement please" is far more common than "well yeah, it's pretty obvious".

I wonder if the apartments and condos that have time of day restrictions on stuff like washing machine use will reevaluate the time limits once ToU billing takes effect.