To the Editor:
I was somewhat amused by the advertisement by Fortis BC in the Creston Valley Advance, urging us to save energy, and the happy new year greeting. Your electric rate will be 3.5 per cent higher as of Jan. 1. I took an old bill of ours from October-December 2009 and applied current rates to the amounts consumed and determined that the same consumption for October-December 2014 would cost us 43 per cent more than 2009. For the same period, the basic Old Age Pension went up eight per cent.
Fortis is simply the beneficiary of provincial government policy, which is to keep electric rates similar between BC Hydro and Fortis, so one area of the province cannot complain about another area of the province receiving low rates. The provincial government uses BC Hydro and ICBC as cash cows and will receive $8.9 billion by 2016-2017 in dividends from these Crown corporations, which is a form of indirect taxation passed on to us as higher electric rates and auto insurance. This indirect taxation taxes the rich and the poor at the same rates.
To Christy Clark: Raise the income tax rates and don’t tax the necessities of life, which affect low-income people far more than the rich.
Creston