By Armchair Mayor

New Hydro levy one more thing to raise our blood pressure

Aug 4, 2018 | 6:11 AM

OUR FIRST HYDRO bills with the new tax have arrived. The Customer Crisis Fund, as it’s called, cost us 10 cents in June because it was pro-rated for the month, and 25 cents in July.

Now there’s 35 cents we’ll never see again. We were well warned, so forgive me for only now catching up with my indignation.

For such a small amount, this new charge has been causing quite a reaction. The issue isn’t the pennies — who can’t afford 25 cents a month to help someone out, after all — but the principle of the thing.

We all make our charitable donations as best we can, the thinking goes. Now we have one that’s mandatory.

The purpose of the fund is to assist those who aren’t able to pay their Hydro bills. Stories of unfortunates who have had their power cut off in the middle of winter by the heartless crown corporation don’t look good on government.

Boogie The Bridge

Boogie The Bridge Event Information

Apr 19, 2024

Question of the Week

Is 'Canada's Tournament Capital' an accurate description of Kamloops?

19h ago

1000 Ways to Heal

1000 Ways to Heal: Vulnerability

19h ago

So, the BC Utilities Commission told Hydro to set up the fund as a three-year pilot project.

It’s not for deadbeats. Anyone accessing the fund must have experienced a life event in the past 12 months that has created a financial crisis.

The most you can get is $600 per year if you heat with electricity. Our house is heated with electricity and I can tell you there are times that would barely pay for a month’s worth.

With 1.8 million residential customers, the new levy will bring in roughly $5.3 million a year.

So why are customers cheesed off? I don’t know about the rest of you, but my view is that such a fund should come from Hydro, not us. In other words, don’t solve a problem by adding to already hefty Hydro rates — take the 25 cents out of the generous amount customers already contribute to the coffers of the corporation.

I know, I know, BC Hydro’s financial situation is pretty bad. But don’t forget that the new government, when it was new, tried to get Hydro rates frozen because they’re such a pain in the pocket book. It didn’t happen. Instead, we got another rate increase.

We can expect Hydro rates to keep going up. The 25 cents, as worthy an objective as it might be, adds a tiny bit of insult to a big injury.

The only good thing about it is that it’s transparent. It could have been hidden, but it’s not; instead, it’s out there in plain sight where we can complain about it.

It will go down as one of life’s little annoyances, one that won’t change our lives but will raise a small hackle once a month. Kind of like when a cat walks in front of you. Why must they do that? Why can’t they get out of the way?

Or like those product warrantees that say, “Do not return this item to store.” When we buy something from a store, why should we have to return it somewhere else?

Or when, no matter how hard we look, we can’t find the date on a receipt so we can conscientiously plug it into our household budget. Would it kill whoever designs receipts to put the date in big, bold letters in plain sight?

Or when you stop the car at a crosswalk, and a pedestrian in the crosswalk stops and starts waving at you to drive through. Am I on Candid Camera? You have the right-of-way, please use it.

Or radio announcers who say “literally” every second sentence. You know who you are. It doesn’t mean what you think it means. Look it up.

(I heard a CBC news reader this week refer to “nomadic-bison hunting people.” Wandering buffalo looking for people? Or did she mean, people who hunt for nomadic bisons? Sixteen-foot soldiers? But, as they say, I definitely digress.)

All of these are things we can do without. Each on their own, they don’t amount to much, but add them all up and they’re the reason we have places with bars on the windows.

So, thanks BC Hydro, for one more thing to raise our blood pressure.