Canadian hydropower continues to rise in controversy

The crazy price increase of hydropower is not a patent of some countries. In some countries where prices are relatively stable, such as Canada, the price of hydropower has been very impressive in recent years. On April 1, last year, British Columbia's Pacific Coast Province of British Columbia raised its electricity bill by 9.11%, that is, residents pay more than 7 Canadian dollars each month for electricity. This is the third time that the provincial electricity price has risen in the past five years.

What is even more frightening is that this is not over yet. According to the budget submitted by the British Columbia government and approved by the provincial councils, the provincial electricity price will be substantially raised by 33% over the next four years. This budget also proposes that the next six years The power-saving price must be raised once a year, with an annual increase of 12% in the first three years and a 6% increase in the next three years.

This is not all: Since the second half of last year, the province has been promoting the use of “smart meters” in the entire province. According to users, this type of meter has been “turned very fast” after installation, and the user’s monthly electricity bills are therefore burdened. As the rate has risen, many people have shouted, "Can't eat too much."

As pointed out by the consumer association of the province, such a price increase plan is “arbitrary”. The question is: How can such an “argumentous” overlord insist on hard-hitting prices, and how can it be passed through in Canada with a sound system?

First of all, although Canada is a Western country, it has long maintained the traditional characteristics of public utilities and monopoly operations. BC’s water and electricity operations are exclusively monopolized by BCHydro, and the company can therefore rely on this monopoly position. The “increasing cost of living expenses” and “construction fund needs to be supplemented” were used to raise price requests, such as the “scary” price increase plan mentioned above, on the grounds of huge losses (the deficit in 2011 was CAD 320 million, which was increased to 2013 6.67 billion in 2014, increased to 1.1 billion), increased taxes (California, the increase in carbon taxes in neighbouring countries may affect Canada's relevant taxation policies), and 6 billion in capital increase in the next three years to build new water conservancy projects, including two dams and some dams , culvert facilities, etc., and all of this naturally targets the people's utility bills.

Second, despite the sound hearing procedures and the open channels of public opinion, the long-term “one-size-only” weakened the control mechanism.

According to the procedures, BC Hydro’s price increase application must first be commissioned by the Public Utilities Commission to conduct an investigation. After the review report is approved by the committee, the research report needs to be included in the annual budget of the provincial government and approved by the provincial council. . However, the provincial Liberal Party of British Columbia’s ruling party has long dominated by an absolute majority. Opposition parties are thin and unable to compete. The ruling party can pass this absolute majority and allow its proposal to be passed by the parliament despite its opposition. It is precisely because the provincial government, provincial councils, public utility commissions, and hydropower companies are “one family” that how hydropower companies look at high-handed price hikes. Only by doing so can they be green and unimpeded.

Of course, this does not mean that the restriction mechanism will not work: Since the provincial government officials are all members of the provincial assembly, they are responsible for the constituencies. When the current constituency is strongly dissatisfied with price increases, they sometimes have to antagonize the government, such as In August last year, BC Hydro also submitted a report on a 32% increase in electricity tariff for 3 years. It was reported that three deputy directors of the Provincial Energy and Mines Office had objected to the letter. The budget price increase mentioned earlier Under similar restrictions, it became 8% in the first year and 4% in the second and third years.

Not only that, due to the supervision and appeal of consumer organizations and public opinion, BC's hydropower company had to acknowledge in October last year that a considerable part of the increase in operating costs was due to its own mismanagement (a report disclosed that the company has increased from 2006 to 2010 41% of employees, 640 engineers, is 6 times the number of Provincial Department of Transportation, the company's total staff actually as high as 6,000), and announced three years of 600 layoffs to reduce expenses.

As for the aforementioned "smart meter", the hydropower company also promised to "reorganize" it under the advice of the "Information and Privacy Commissioner" of the province. It can thus be seen that sound hearing procedures and unimpeded channels of public opinion can, to a certain extent, restrict the frenzy of hydropower tariffs, but to “fix the root cause” and break the monopoly fear is the only way.

Indoor Fixed Advertising Led Screen

Indoor fixed advertising LED screens are large electronic display screens that are used for advertising purposes indoors. These screens are typically installed in high-traffic areas such as shopping malls, airports, train stations, and other public spaces.

Hot-selling series are p2/p2.5/p4/p5 led display video wall.

Indoor Fixed Advertising Led Screen,Indoor Led Wall Billboards,Indoor Fixed Led Billboards,Shopping Mall Led Display

Guangzhou Cheng Wen Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd. , https://www.cwledwall.com