qathet Regional District wants to coordinate a meeting with senior BC Hydro officials at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) convention in September to discuss items of concern, such as funding electric vehicle charging stations on islands.
At the June 26 committee of the whole meeting, directors reviewed correspondence from BC Hydro manager of community relations Ted Olynyk, offering an invitation for local government officials to meet with BC Hydro representatives at UBCM.
Electoral Area D director and committee chair Sandy McCormick said she wanted a meeting to ask about policies of not providing electrical vehicle charging stations on islands. In past regional district meetings, McCormick has been an advocate for a charging station on Texada Island.
City of Powell River director Cindy Elliott said she would also like to meet regarding the net metering program for households and its accessibility.
“If a household wants to put solar panels on the roof and use them as a way to augment power, and if they are getting surplus power, net metering would allow it to go back into the grid and offset the low times when they are using power from BC Hydro,” said Elliott. “The policy they [BC Hydro] have now makes it hard for people to do those things and it seems counterproductive to trying to make more cost-efficient homes. I wanted to raise that and ask BC Hydro if they have intentions to make that easier for people to utilize that specifically.”
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