April 18, 2006
Kamloops Daily News


If you like what the free market has done for the price of
gas and oil, you'll love what it will do for the price of
electricity.

The free market has failed to deliver the lowest prices for
gasoline and natural gas. Canada has no shortage of oil and
gas - - we have so much of it that we export it. It's the
U.S. that is short of the stuff, and we are required by
NAFTA to sell it in a market in which demand exceeds supply.

The way things are going, we will soon be paying U.S. prices
for electricity.

President Bush has given the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission in the U.S. powers to create seamless
continent-wide marketplace for electricity and Canadian
provinces are willing partners in the plan says Professor
Marjorie Cohen, former board member for B.C. Hydro, in her
article for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

The B.C. government is complying with the Commission because
they imagine that there is potential profit in selling
electricity to the U.S. and that they have to comply with
the Commission.

The plan also promises a stable environment in which private
producers of electricity can make a profit. The consumer of
electricity will end up paying more because Canada does not
have a surplus of electricity.

B.C. Hydro has not been allowed to develop generating
stations to keep up with demand. As a result, we end up
importing expensive electricity from the U.S.

The B.C. government has proceeded with the separation of
generation and transmission operation in B.C. in compliance
with the Commission. The B.C. Liberals promise that the
power grid will never be privatized.

Guess what? Public ownership is part of the U.S. Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission's plan, too.

Why privatize transmission lines when private generating
sites can profit from the use of the publicly owned power
grid. We will be stuck for the maintenance and upgrade of
power lines.

Many U.S. state governments, electricity utilities, and
consumer groups in the U.S. have reacted very negatively to
the Commission's invasion of their territory - - but not
Canada.

Canada's poor excuse for the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission is the National Energy Board. Unlike the
Commission, the NEB has minimal powers. For example, the
NEB does not regulate energy within provincial boundaries or
between provinces.

The NEB has become even weaker over the years. It used to
monitor energy exports and hold public hearings for each
application to export energy from Canada but recently it
gives blanket export permits that last up to 10 years. The
NEB is located in Calgary, ensuring that it submits to
private energy.

The new power line grids will cover large geographic areas
in order to profit from the economy of scale. With more
private generation stations coming on line throughout the
region, more transmission lines will have to be upgraded to
handle the increased power and reliability. And who will
pay for those power line upgrades? You and I will. We will
pay more to build power lines so that private power
companies can charge us more for electricity. Talk about
adding insult to injury.

Once provinces give up control of the generation of
electricity, they give up control of domestic agendas. It
doesn't matter if we want to develop resources and create
well-paying jobs through cheap electricity, as Highland
Valley Copper does, or whether provinces want to protect
their most vulnerable citizens from price-gouging.

Once provinces loose control of the price of electricity, we
will no longer be set the price we pay for electricity
generated by the natural resources owned by citizens of B.C.

Energy trading in electricity will result. As with any
other commodity, electricity can be bought and sold at a
profit to take advantage of different prices throughout the
continent.

Companies are positioning themselves to sell electricity to
the grid for a profit. Duke Energy, headquartered in
Charlotte, North Carolina, has been given a 10-year permit
from the NEB to export electricity from B.C. even though
they have no generating plants.

It doesn't have to be this way. Unlike oil and gas, Canada
is not obligated under NAFTA to sell its electricity.
Provincial governments should look for ways to provide the
cheapest electricity for Canadians. Instead, they are
setting up a system that will deliver the maximum profit to
those who control our energy.




David Charbonneau is the owner of Trio Technical.
He can be reached at dcharbonneau13@shaw.ca

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