B.C.’s poor need a break on Hydro bills, expert says
Many of B.C.’s poor have to decide between heating their homes and feeding their families, an expert testified at a B.C. Utilities Commission hearing on Thursday.
Seth Klein, director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, testified as an expert witness for the B.C. Public Interest Advocacy Centre. The organization wants B.C. Hydro to give low-incomeearners a break on their power bills as electricity rates continue to rise.
Klein told the hearing that “energy poverty” is an emergent issue facing those below the poverty line. With energy rates going up every year, those with low salaries, seniors and welfare recipients are left unable to pay their bills. The number of Hydro customers cut off from electricity rose to more than 32,500 in 2015 from nearly 5,000 in 2013, according to B.C. Hydro.
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre attributes the spike to the introduction of smart meters, but also to an increase in Hydro rates, which went up nine per cent in 2014, six per cent in 2015 and another four per cent in 2016. They are projected to go up 3.5 per cent next year and a further three per cent in 2018.
Klein said while a few extra dollars a month might be manageable for the majority of workers, those below the poverty line feel the hike more acutely. The Crown corporation, however, argues reducing rates for poor people would cost too much money and would have to be subsidized by other customers.
Lino Bussoli, counsel for the commission, asked why the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives had not included energy costs in two of its reports, one in 2008 and one in 2011, on how to address escalating poverty. But Klein argued the problem has only become prevalent in recent years, as Hydro rates have increased and housing costs have skyrocketed.
Klein said those on welfare are afforded a budget of only $375 per month for rent, which is “virtually impossible” to live on in Metro Vancouver.
“There’s no room to trim the fat to accommodate (energy) increases,” he said, adding that many families struggling to pay for basic necessities are cutting into their food budget to pay for heat, or get cut off because they can’t pay their bills.
“In fact, I would argue there’s negative wiggle room in their budgets,” he added.
The hearing, which began in Vancouver on Tuesday and is expected to wrap up next Thursday, heard B.C. Hydro’s rate increases (up 50 per cent over the past decade) have grossly outpaced increases in income for low earners.
Klein cited B.C.’s social assistance rates, which have been frozen since 2007 at $610 per month for basic assistance and $906 for disability assistance, and in the last decade the province’s minimum wage has only increased by $2.45 an hour.
In an interview, Klein said as governments take action on climate change, home energy bills will increase, and unless governments and agencies like B.C. Hydro take mitigating steps, energy poverty is going to worsen.
The B.C. Public Interest Advocacy Centre is intervening on behalf of seven organizations to ask the utilities commission to order B.C. Hydro to implement programs for low-income residential ratepayers including a discounted rate for electricity, low-income customer rules and a crisis intervention fund.
About 10 per cent of B.C. Hydro customers live below Statistics Canada’s poverty line, or about 170,000 customers, according to advocacy centre lawyer Sarah Khan.
She said next week Roger Colton, an expert in low-income rate design from the United States, will present the hearing with measures they want B.C. Hydro to implement. Under the proposal, B.C. Hydro would implement a discounted rate of four cents per kilowatt hour for the first 400 kWh of electricity per month for lowincome residential customers.
B.C. Hydro spokeswoman Simi Heer said the Crown corporation has the third-lowest residential electricity rates in North America, and is investing $7.8 million in low-income programs over the next three years.
The low-income programs do not reduce energy bills, but instead focus on providing energy-saving kits to low-income customers, as well as insulation upgrades.
Khan estimated, under their plan, other customers would pay an extra $1 a month. She said Ontario already has a similar plan, and Manitoba is also looking into an affordability program. Low-income energy plans are also widely used in cities throughout the U.S.