Electrical rates to go up

[madmudder]

Penticton council should stop spending money they don't have and leave the electrical and water rates alone.
Oh wait I apologize. I forgot city staff calls all the shots.

[southy]

?????

[oneh2obabe]

http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-st ... htm#130269

[southy]

Thanks ... this should come as no surprise. And I do believe we will see more service increases throughout the upcoming year. Should be interesting.

[ToddT]

The same people who complain about the cost of service increasing are usually the same people who expect home prices to increase for no valid reason.

[twobits]

Excellent letter to the Editor in today's Herald on this subject. He nails it completely. Wish I could post a link. The councillors that voted in favour of this hike are complete hypocrites when they run on a platform of job creation yet boost electrical rates to business and industry in town that are already paying up to 40% more for power than a Fortis serviced piece of land outside of city boundaries.

Anyone getting a picture of the competence of some of those elected to council yet?

[ToddT]

Here's the link: http://www.pentictonherald.ca/opinion/a ... e1f1b.html

After reading the editorial I have to agree that this might be a case of the blind leading the blind.

[XT225]

Excellent letter to the Editor in today's Herald on this subject. He nails it completely. Wish I could post a link. The councillors that voted in favour of this hike are complete hypocrites when they run on a platform of job creation yet boost electrical rates to business and industry in town that are already paying up to 40% more for power than a Fortis serviced piece of land outside of city boundaries.

Anyone getting a picture of the competence of some of those elected to council yet?

We aren't even two weeks into the New Year and our newly elected council has made their first big blunder. I thought that the mayor wanted to encourage more Industrial jobs. Now we have one employer in the Industrial area (from front page of today's Herald article; not the letter to the editor mentioned above) saying that they will not likely expand their product line now and that proposed new private sector jobs will not happen (except in the city workforce; they are adding to their numbers). I would suggest NOT giving out free grants to any organization until everyone the budget is done and most are happy with it. As someone suggested, you wouldn't run your own household like this. I had hoped that the new council would be better than the last one; don't think that is going to be the case. If the city would cut out some of the Capital projects that are NOT mandatory at this time (ie: narrowing 200 block of Main Street), perhaps they could keep the rates at or near the same for now and encourage new business; not scare them away. I'm really disappointed with councils performance thus far.

[Darryl34]

Electrical rates are way out of hand,have been going up at least annually for 10 years,and will continue to do so.....

We live in a 1200sq ft townhouse,(built late 70's),its in Penticton city limits.Meaning billed every month(ish),everything is electric controlled,hotwater heat etc.Been here since 2004.Our largest bill over the winter at that time was $165.00(1 month).Looking back at last year,our largest bill was $364.00(1 month).Did I mention it is a 1200sq ft. townhouse?

We will all will contine just bending over & taking it up the a%@. The JOKE really,is on US.........

[GEW]

It's time for the City of Penticton (and Fortis for that matter) to get out of the electrical business. Neither of them produce enough electricity to meet their demand (the city generates none) . Penticton buys wholesale from Fortis, and Fortis buys needed power from BC Hydro. Whenever BC Hydro rates go up, the city of Penticton user sees a two-fold markup on their power bill. With the cost of everything constantly going up, this is no longer acceptable.

[twobits]

It's time for the City of Penticton (and Fortis for that matter) to get out of the electrical business. Neither of them produce enough electricity to meet their demand (the city generates none) . Penticton buys wholesale from Fortis, and Fortis buys needed power from BC Hydro. Whenever BC Hydro rates go up, the city of Penticton user sees a two-fold markup on their power bill. With the cost of everything constantly going up, this is no longer acceptable.

The problem is not the city owned utility, the problem is the city using it as a cash cow for general revenues. Make it revenue neutral to the owners, the taxpayers of Penticton, and I have no problem with it. Use it as a profit generating addition to general revenues and it is no more than another non transparent form of taxation. That I have an issue with.
How can anyone say with a straight face "we are balancing the budget" when they raid the surplus of the electrical utility beyond what is required in in the Electrical Utilities forecast future capital expenditures budget? It is so effin wrong that it is criminal. No real world business would get away with this kind of practice for more than a lean year or two, yet our council'(s) have made it a normal course of business.
I have a suggestion for our city Fathers......instead of dicking around about wholesale, blended or full pull % pass on of Fortis increases approved by the BCUC.......how about reducing your huge premium on business and industrial users. Ya know, the actual areas that employ people.

[pentona]

This is slightly off topic but still directly related to Electrical in Penticton. I see that the city is going to revamp all the street lights over to LED. I think this is a great idea, long overdue and should save a lot in electrical costs.

I do hope however that they consider changing the lights to non-glare types, like the "Lower" ones on Lakeshore Drive and Martin Street. Some of the Tall ones on Lakeshore Drive that were already converted to LED are very annoying (with sideways glare) and make driving toward them difficult at night.

The lower, black post ones are excellent and have some character as well. I hope that the city chooses the right models. If you don't know what I mean re glare, drive down Lakeshore at night and look at the tall ones on the South side of the street.

[Mrconcerned]

The city is taking advantage. Driving up the cost of living. Most of the citizens are elderly, on fixed incomes.
Shameful.

[twobits]

Kudos to Konanz for her call out on electrical rates!!!! Please note that our new mayor Jak, Sentes, and Sayeed were opposed. Two months in and these people already scare the *bleep* out of me. Konanz is bang on when she says that electrical rates hikes should be passed on at wholesale rates.
For those that might be confused.....when Fortis announces a rate hike, it is a percentage rate hike on their retail pricing. So if Fortis rates are say 10 cents a KW hour, a 5% increase would be 10.5 cents a KW/hr. A clear increase of .5 cents per hour.
The reality however is that the city buys power at discounted wholesale rates and that 5% increase in power rates is less than the .5 cents increase in retail rates.
Bottom line is that the city, by increasing their rates at Fortis's % increase, or even something in between the BCUC approved rate and something more than the 5% that rate would be applied to the city's wholesale cost of power, the City is increasing their profit margin every time!!!!!
So what does this all mean? Quite frankly....an additional tax on the gullible. The people that hear Fortis going up by 5 means mine is going up by 5. And for the city, it means an increased margin to the slush fund to draw on yr after yr to balance a provincially mandated balanced budget. When is this covert taxation going to end?
It gets even worse cuz every one of those increases get compounded on top of the previous ones. IMO, a city owned utility should be in place for providing a cost effective service. One that is owned by the taxpayers for the taxpayer's benefit. It should not be a profit center. It should cover it's costs administratively as well as have it's own capital expenditure budget for future maintenance and expansion. Those needs are clearly covered in our electrical utilities forecast budgets.
Instead, our electrical utility budget has become a slush fun to raid to cover the flavour of the day.
It is just plain wrong. Mayor Jak, Councillor Sentes and Sayeed.....I await your rebuttal.
And I do know you read these threads.

[XT225]

Kudos to Konanz for her call out on electrical rates!!!! Please note that our new mayor Jak, Sentes, and Sayeed were opposed. Two months in and these people already scare the *bleep* out of me. Konanz is bang on when she says that electrical rates hikes should be passed on at wholesale rates.
For those that might be confused.....when Fortis announces a rate hike, it is a percentage rate hike on their retail pricing. So if Fortis rates are say 10 cents a KW hour, a 5% increase would be 10.5 cents a KW/hr. A clear increase of .5 cents per hour.
The reality however is that the city buys power at discounted wholesale rates and that 5% increase in power rates is less than the .5 cents increase in retail rates.
Bottom line is that the city, by increasing their rates at Fortis's % increase, or even something in between the BCUC approved rate and something more than the 5% that rate would be applied to the city's wholesale cost of power, the City is increasing their profit margin every time!!!!!
So what does this all mean? Quite frankly....an additional tax on the gullible. The people that hear Fortis going up by 5 means mine is going up by 5. And for the city, it means an increased margin to the slush fund to draw on yr after yr to balance a provincially mandated balanced budget. When is this covert taxation going to end?
It gets even worse cuz every one of those increases get compounded on top of the previous ones. IMO, a city owned utility should be in place for providing a cost effective service. One that is owned by the taxpayers for the taxpayer's benefit. It should not be a profit center. It should cover it's costs administratively as well as have it's own capital expenditure budget for future maintenance and expansion. Those needs are clearly covered in our electrical utilities forecast budgets.
Instead, our electrical utility budget has become a slush fun to raid to cover the flavour of the day.
It is just plain wrong. Mayor Jak, Councillor Sentes and Sayeed.....I await your rebuttal.
And I do know you read these threads.

Bang on, Twobits. I, to, applaud Helen and shame on Jak, Sentes and Sayeed. The city makes money off you and I (with the electrical utility) and then pads their Capital accounts for these mega million dollar beautification projects that would never pass a referendum, if they had the chance to get on the ballot. Disgusting performance by this city council (except for Helen) so far.