To the editor:
An answer to Doug McNair’s letter to the Capital News Aug. 21 asking: Who Pays For Electric Car ‘Fill-up’?
Gosh Doug, don’t you know? The guy who spouted the remarks that there would be no “free ride” when it comes to BC Hydro. Remember him saying this and his exact remarks?
He is going to cover these costs for us? Don’t hold your hand anywhere it may get soiled. This is a lilly-white situation for our energy gurus to publicly answer for us and rectify.
I have written a couple of letters regarding BC Hydro about rates, times, cars, and have no reply that makes me feel at ease. They feel that if they ignore us paying customers, it really doesn’t matter what they do or who pays.
And, you forgot to include that fossil fuel vehicle operators pay road taxes to maintain, upgrade, and expand our highways in BC. I cry discrimination, just as you seem to do.
Our government has no plan or even idea of how to collect the due taxation, fees, subsidies, and blatant inequalities of this situation. Maybe they intend to give all vehicles free fill-ups?
I can only hope that they will publish a truthful and honest answer to this for all of us.
Just to take this a little further, Bloomberg.com ran an article on the fact that there are now computer programs available to tell smart meters and their utilities about each article [appliance] we have plugged in. Every item has a distinctive footprint: shows make, model, age of, when on and off, etc. So this information can be used to bombard you with sucker lists to upgrade and buy new appliances, etc. How your chef cooks meals—nukes or bakes, etc. Even so far as to tell you what you are watching on your TV as every program has a different electronic footprint.
Is BC Hydro gearing to bill you at different rates for when and what appliance you use? This is possible now.
Everyone should be somewhat concerned as to the power of outside entities prying into our daily lives.
Will we see truthful answers to this? Who, in this province, has any interest in privacy and what they are about to be subjected to? Government? Utilities?
I look forward to measuring this interest by the amount of mail they reply to here, including your readers.
R. J. Brown,
West Kelowna
