Thursday, February 17, 2011

trying to get more money for those rural folks


            The discussion for Compensation of the BC Hydro Transmission & Distribution lines that go through rural areas.  BC Hydro pays various others jurisdictions in; taxes in lieu of grants. Why not us in electoral areas get some of the money that these transmission lines displace?  The revenue payments of which municipal governments receive is 1% of gross revenues from utilities sales (of electricity). In rural areas BC Hydro pays 1% to them but it is remitted to the province, into general revenues. The Municipal funds that are paid to them were 22.3 million in 2006. The Provincial share comes to 2.3 million for electrical sales in rural areas,  that would be available to rural communities. Where are these extra costs to BC Hydro going to come from? Will we just not be paying higher Hydro costs and the money will be coming from one pocket into the other?  Presently municipalities get 58 million and rural areas pay in some way for part of that. The rural areas would get about 3 million of which the municipalities would pay part of by their hydro usage. Near the end of the discussion some EADs were already saying; “ I do not have any transmission lines in my area so how will we benefit and yet we will pay for the extra costs of hydro for this increase”.

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