My reporting of units of electricity sold by BC Hydro to residential, commercial and industrial customers in the province are taken directly from the utility’s quarterly and annual reports.
Despite that, I get skeptical feedback about the numbers.
Most people are educated by BC Hydro’s dishonest claims about demand growth. So, when they read a report that domestic sales have been flat for 15 years, they tend to be doubtful.
Today, an In-Sights reader who works in the trades sent a message. It shows one example of modern technology affecting electric utility demand.
Flat BC Hydro demand?
A prime example here.
We are changing our shop lighting.
Note the comparison between old brown metal halide lights (big, heavy, 494 watt) to the small black LED replacements (150 watt). Changing them by the skidfull.
I would estimate on top of the 150w/494w power saving there is an increase in perceived light output, perhaps from more effective placement of light sources.
Categories: BC Hydro
in-sights.ca 
It is the same political scam that has plagued this province since the 1980’s, mega projects are built to suit political needs and ambitions.
The taxpayer is merely a cash cow, nothing more.
Bent Flyvberg’s Iron Law of Megaprojects specifically addresses why politicians are obsessed with infrastructure at any cost.
…the “political sublime,” which here is understood as the rapture politicians get from building monuments to themselves and their causes. Megaprojects are manifest, garner attention, and lend an air of proactiveness to their promoters. Moreover, they are media magnets, which appeals to politicians who seem to enjoy few things better than the visibility they get from starting megaprojects. Except maybe cutting the ribbon of one in the company of royals or presidents, who are likely to be present lured by the unique monumentality and historical import of many megaprojects. This is the type of public exposure that helps get politicians re-elected. They therefore actively seek it out.
Politicians know that democracy is all but dead in this province and the lame mainstream media just sings the media’s tune.
What did Good, Vague Palmer and BS Baldry once called you and other bloggers?
Me thinks the shoe is now firmly on the other foot!
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I am taken aback hearing of recent articles by Mike Smyth and Vaughn Palmer intimating they are taken aback by the current (no pun intended) state of BC Hydro due to Site C concerns …..considering they are well documented as strongly supporting the energy policies of Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark ….all the while calling the rest of us nincompoops ranting in their underpants.
It is the Narwhal, Laila, Norm et al carrying the water (once again no pun intended) for them. Our mainstream media are accomplices in this lack of awareness. I have no empathy for the plight “news”papers find themselves in. Seems the goal is to see who gets the most adulatory Twitter comments…..not who holds decisionmakers to account.
Mr. Andersen says “should be ashamed”. Raif agrees. So would an investigative journalist the likes of Webster should such an event have happened during his time.
I don’t get to vote for all the Deputy Ministers and board chairs that obviously are really running the show…..though party (no matter which one) strategists and consultants run a close second.
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so 2 percent a year growth down to 1 percent a year for 20 years but still…?
flat demand for past 15 years relatively?
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never trust in house numbers? transit or otherwise?
or trust but verify – thank you Ronald Regan?
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BC Hydro has difficulty distorting the units of consumption numbers in their quarterly and annual statements because those have to tie into the revenue figures. That is hard to do when the numbers are subject to external audit.
Mind you, Hydro has not been above faking the revenue numbers by using regulatory accounts to book sales that have not occurred. But those amounts have little affect on my assertions.
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Hello Norm;
People who are disbelieving of of your charts and values from BC Hydro reports should themselves be ashamed of their ignorance on a matter that affects their pockets .
Starting at the beginning of this century, BC Hydro has been using population growth values, to estimate future domestic needs, that were twice the then known values. Both Statistics Canada and BC Government Statistics had annual projection values of +1% yet here I sit looking at my copy of the BC Hydro “Electricity Load Forecast ,2010 /11 – 2030/31” and read on page 15 the annual rate of increase for all categories of domestic customers + 2%.
By the year 2021 BC Hydro was presenting a planning total “Firm Sales” , in GW hrs , of 66,707, or about 17,000 GW hrs over what they might sell next year.
That translates into a very huge capital deployed error, when one thinks of Site C at $12 + billion for maybe 3,500 GW hrs , only a decade later.
At a Victoria meeting of economists the BC Hydro director of forecasting gave this report and when I pointed out the obvious growth/increase errors he confided he was under orders to get his rate of population increases and his GDP future values from a specific but undisclosed Vancouver consultant.
So I say if it “walks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it must be a duck” In this case a group around the premier sought to exploit the good credit rating of BC and load up BC Hydro domestic customers with $60 billion of unneeded “Contractual Obligations” that were and are secret, plus maybe another $12 billion for Site C .
This was/is a deliberate wealth transfer scheme that you and a few others recognized some while ago and tried to get the attention of fellow citizens before it got so far out of hand.
Thanks for your doing this work Norm.
Regards Erik
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