BC hydro rate increase??

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80watts

80watts

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May 20, 2004
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https://bcsea.org/elementor-14315/
You will need to read the reference.
I got one of those messages on my phone. BC hydro scam, saying to pay your bill or electricity will be cut off. After some research, I blocked the number.
So normally I just pay the hydro bill and forget it. Just browsing in the hydro site online. Tier 1 and Tier 2 caught my eye.
I started playing with some graphs on my bill vs temperature, and past bills, and similar houses....
Checked out this Tier 2 shit.
So at Tier 1 (cost 10.97cents per KWH), up to 1350 KWH/2months period, then any thing extra is Tier 2. About 22.5 KWH a day for Tier 1 (1350/30days).
Tier 2 (cost 14.08 cents per KWH)

BC hydro say the avg house usage is 1200 KWH per month (with electric heat and 700 KWH without electric heat). So that difference is 500 KWH of heat a month.
During summer months (jun-aug) no AC, my avg would be 16 KWH a day. I had 7 over 20 KWH days during this time period, with a max of 25 KWH. I average about 1000 KWH every 2 months (without heat). That is washing machine, wine fridge, 2 fridges, microwave, and rarely the stove, lights and computers, tv, and hot water heater. Washer, dryer, and stove are the big increases that I notice. And in the winter the electric heat.

I turned the heat on in last week of September. I usually keep downstairs at 10-15C. Upstairs its 20 in bathroom, bedroom and computer rooms, the rest are about 17C. So looking at my current usage (oct -dec), I am using over 30 KWH a day if the temp is below 10C (from playing with the graphs website), with some days being 47 and 49 KWH (last 2 days actually). Temps are only getting colder until spring. Say 45 KWH or more a day and that is 1350 KWH just for heating. No way is that 500 KWH.

So I get 350 kWH at tier 1 for heat, after that all my heat is Tier 2 at 14.08 cent/KWH.

So when I turn on my heat, its basicly costing me 3 cent/KWH more. That is a rate increase.

Even at 700 KWH per house, that is 1400 KWH/2 months. Tier 1 starts at 1350 KWH/2 months. This system is designed to increase the rate when you turn the heat on. So you pay more.
Tier 1 needs to be extend to 2700-3000 KWH/2 months.

Also in the above reference the proposal is:
4-9 pm charge 15.97 cents/KWH (+5cents)---This is the time most people do cooking, washing etc when they come home from work. BC hydro calls it peak time.
11pm - 7am charge 5.97 cents/KWh (-5 cents) --- most people are asleep

The idea of saving money/using electricity is to do laundry and car charging in the 11pm-7 am time period. Most people don't have time delayed washing machines etc, it takes electricity to run the timing mechanism, causing you to use more electricity....most people don't like washing machines on when they sleep either.....
 
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masterpoonhunter

masterpoonhunter

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Sep 15, 2019
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yea, welcome to 2008 when BC Hydro introduced multi tier pricing ......
 
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rlock

Well-known member
May 20, 2015
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80watts said:
https://bcsea.org/elementor-14315/
You will need to read the reference.
I got one of those messages on my phone. BC hydro scam, saying to pay your bill or electricity will be cut off. After some research, I blocked the number.
So normally I just pay the hydro bill and forget it. Just browsing in the hydro site online. Tier 1 and Tier 2 caught my eye.
I started playing with some graphs on my bill vs temperature, and past bills, and similar houses....
Checked out this Tier 2 shit.
So at Tier 1 (cost 10.97cents per KWH), up to 1350 KWH/2months period, then any thing extra is Tier 2. About 22.5 KWH a day for Tier 1 (1350/30days).
Tier 2 (cost 14.08 cents per KWH)

BC hydro say the avg house usage is 1200 KWH per month (with electric heat and 700 KWH without electric heat). So that difference is 500 KWH of heat a month.
During summer months (jun-aug) no AC, my avg would be 16 KWH a day. I had 7 over 20 KWH days during this time period, with a max of 25 KWH. I average about 1000 KWH every 2 months (without heat). That is washing machine, wine fridge, 2 fridges, microwave, and rarely the stove, lights and computers, tv, and hot water heater. Washer, dryer, and stove are the big increases that I notice. And in the winter the electric heat.

I turned the heat on in last week of September. I usually keep downstairs at 10-15C. Upstairs its 20 in bathroom, bedroom and computer rooms, the rest are about 17C. So looking at my current usage (oct -dec), I am using over 30 KWH a day if the temp is below 10C (from playing with the graphs website), with some days being 47 and 49 KWH (last 2 days actually). Temps are only getting colder until spring. Say 45 KWH or more a day and that is 1350 KWH just for heating. No way is that 500 KWH.

So I get 350 kWH at tier 1 for heat, after that all my heat is Tier 2 at 14.08 cent/KWH.

So when I turn on my heat, its basicly costing me 3 cent/KWH more. That is a rate increase.

Even at 700 KWH per house, that is 1400 KWH/2 months. Tier 1 starts at 1350 KWH/2 months. This system is designed to increase the rate when you turn the heat on. So you pay more.
Tier 1 needs to be extend to 2700-3000 KWH/2 months.

Also in the above reference the proposal is:
4-9 pm charge 15.97 cents/KWH (+5cents)---This is the time most people do cooking, washing etc when they come home from work. BC hydro calls it peak time.
11pm - 7am charge 5.97 cents/KWh (-5 cents) --- most people are asleep

The idea of saving money/using electricity is to do laundry and car charging in the 11pm-7 am time period. Most people don't have time delayed washing machines etc, it takes electricity to run the timing mechanism, causing you to use more electricity....most people don't like washing machines on when they sleep either.....
Click to expand...
I am very wary of their plans in regard to switching to "peak usage metering" and so on; I would never opt for it personally. I have never actually used enough to be in "tier 2", but that seems more like it depends on how many people are in a dwelling.

Usage will always depend on peoples' daily lives, and spread over the whole community, that is why "peak usage hours" even exists. Some activities also cannot be done in the dark, and in an apartment, there's restrictions on what hours someone can run noisy appliances (so forget laundry at night), and cooking while asleep is virtually impossible anyway. People use power at home when they are home, and that is dependent on work hours, and perhaps only charging battery-based things is an exception to that rule.
It is nice if people can have rooms set to individual temperature settings, but most won't be able. Shutting all open windows and fresh air is bad for one's health. And in winter, people are going to need more light and more heat, that is unavoidable.

However, in the realm of "small improvements" there are ways to do things to cut power use. A lot of appliances these days seem to draw "phantom power" even when they are off, so if one can nix that for ones which are barely ever used, great.

But if BC Hydro wants to flatten "peak" usage, then it is high-level commercial customers that can adapt to being off-peak, because some of them have options most of us do not.


80watts said:
The idea of saving money/using electricity is to do laundry and car charging in the 11pm-7 am time period. Most people don't have time delayed washing machines etc, it takes electricity to run the timing mechanism, causing you to use more electricity....most people don't like washing machines on when they sleep either.....
Click to expand...
The laundry suggestions are particularly funny. Some kinds of laundry loads depend on being removed from the washer or dryer immediately, so people have to be actively watching for when the cycles end. Having some clothes in detergent water all night is not great. Spin cycles are noisy enough to wake one up if there is not daytime background white noise to mask it. And people waking up in the morning for work or school usually do not include them have time to remove and fold or hang laundry. (Most people barely have time to eat.)

EV car charging at night makes sense of course. But to charge anything else, you have to have that assurance it will not catch fire, which for some of those cheap e-scooters and off-brand charging gear is definitely not guaranteed (firefighters even advise against it).
 
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masterblaster

Well-known member
May 19, 2004
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Reminds me of the old joke about the couple who decided they needed a code for having sex, so they decided to call it doing the laundry. This went fine for them. One day the wife said “Honey would you like to do the laundry?” Her hubby replied “no I just had small load today so I did it by hand”
 
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80watts

80watts

Banned
May 20, 2004
3,284
1,231
113
Victoria
Peak hour usage is only for daylight where most people go to work, so teh large machines are on for manufacturing etc.
Another peak hour is in summer months the AC is turned on to cool houses way into the late night.
Also when you get home and do your chores (supper, washing, drying etc) between 4 and 9 pm, where BC hydro want to charge you peak money.....
Peak hours are based on coal plants/gas plants/nuclear plants that have to be put online to match demand....

If your using hydro, you need rain to fill your reservoir....

Cause its winter now I have to turn on the heat. That puts me into Tier 2...

So damned if you do (with tier 1 and 2), and damned if you take the new system (4-9pm). Either way I am using the electricity at a higher rate. Its just another cash grab at a higher rate.

Kinda like the water guys--- use less water and conserve, oh we don't make enough money, cost of water goes up....
 
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Larry's Torch

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Apr 26, 2020
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I'm currently paying $45.00 every 3 months (average $15.00/mo.).
 
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