To the Editor,
Once again the NDP goes for the big splash but doesn’t get the story right.
John Horgan’s argument that B.C. Hydro is losing millions of dollars over private power purchases is disingenuous and misleading.
B.C. Hydro is not buying $92 megawatt hours of power and selling it at $35 mWh into the open market. Rather, the 20-plus year fixed price contracts for green power are being used to supply renewable, reliable power to the core market.
These long term power contracts shouldn’t be confused with the spot market, which is currently trading below $40 mWh, but has been as high as $1,100 mWh in recent history.
Contracting for long-term fixed price power is a prudent way for B.C. Hydro to hedge its future requirements. Total reliance on the spot market for energy shortfalls is a fool’s game. One only has to look at the California energy crisis of 2001 when the state’s energy purchases rose tenfold, and rolling blackouts prevailed.
And with B.C. Hydro being a net importer of power for seven consecutive years in the last decade, who wants to run that risk?
Fred Scott
Richmond
