An Anarchist Mountain resident who believes that two-tier electricity pricing penalizes rural people who don’t have access to natural gas has won a small concession from the provincial government.

Nick Marty, a retired federal official who spent much of his career working on energy conservation, has argued that the Residential Conservation Rate (RCR) used by FortisBC and BC Hydro is discriminatory and fails to result in energy conservation.

In July, Bill Bennett, minister of energy and mines, asked the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) to answer five questions stemming from the argument made by Marty.

Originally, the process established by the BCUC to address the five questions would have limited submissions only to previous interveners, but last week Marty was told he was invited to comment “based on your interest and professional experience.”

In Marty’s argument, homeowners with access to natural gas are able to limit their electricity consumption in order to purchase all or most of their electricity at the lower-tier price. Homeowners without access to natural gas, who are usually rural, are dependent on electricity for water and space heating, so most of their electricity is purchased in the higher-tier price.

Because customers with access to gas can buy electricity at the lower rate, they have no incentive to conserve, Marty argues. On the other hand, the only viable alternative to electricity for rural residents is to burn wood, which increases pollution.

Marty agrees that Bennett’s five questions are fundamental to addressing the inequities of the two-tier system, though he still detects a lack of willingness to admit the system is poorly designed.

Several questions, he notes, ask about the impact on low-income customers while Marty believes the policy has a negative impact on everybody.

He’s pleased, however, that BC Hydro has also been asked to be part of the review process in addition to FortisBC.

BC Hydro implemented the two-tier system first and also controls a much larger area of the province, he said.

But Marty is concerned that electricity prices have continued rising, by close to 25 per cent since the two-tier system was introduced.

And he’s concerned that the review process will be lengthy, with no guarantee of a positive outcome, as all the while rural residents continue paying high electricity prices.

Marty and other members of the Anarchist Mountain Community Society brought their concerns about electricity pricing to MLA Linda Larson in a public meeting last December.

Residents then organized an online petition that collected more than 600 signatures protesting the RCR.

In the spring, partly as a result of these lobbying efforts, Marty was granted a meeting with Bennett by conference call.

Marty hopes that by his being involved in establishing the methodology for the inquiry, the utilities won’t be able to disguise information.

“There’s a need for something to happen because it will reveal that it’s having a discriminatory impact and that people are suffering major price increases,” he said.

The inquiry is not a process that will alter rates, but rather will gather information to respond to Bennett’s questions.

The minister’s questions are:

  • Do the residential inclining block rates cause cross-subsidy between customers with and without access to natural gas?
  • What evidence is available about high bill impacts [greater than 10 percent as a result of the adoption of the residential inclining block rates] on low-income customers?
  • What evidence is available about factors that lead to high-energy use and, therefore, bill impacts for customers without access to natural gas, including low-income customers?
  • What is the potential for existing Demand-Side Management programs to mitigate these impacts?
  • Within the current regulatory environment, what options are there for additional Demand-Side Management programs, including low-income programs?

RICHARD McGUIRE

Osoyoos Times