City of Powell River councillors will examine whether they want to weigh in on Powell River Energy Incorporated’s (PREI) status as a public utility.
PREI owns and operates two hydroelectric generating stations, along with transmission and distribution facilities located on Powell Lake and Lois Lake, and is a subsidiary of energy corporation Evolugen.
At the June 1 city council meeting, councillor Trina Isakson said the city had received notification on May 31 about the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) investigation into PREI’s status as a public utility and there is a timeline associated with it.
“What this is related to is BCUC is responsible for regulating BC’s energy utilities,” said Isakson. “They do things like approving rate applications and determining a fair rate of return for companies that are energy-generating, they approve construction of operations facilities, they accept energy supply contracts, and they supervise public utility activities. The BCUC has launched an investigation into PREI’s status as a public utility.
“They are launching this investigation because up until the mill shut down, [PREI] had a partial exemption from this public utility status because they had a supply arrangement with the mill that no longer exists. PREI’s position would be to not be a public utility and I am questioning with council whether we might want to explore writing a letter into this procedure.”
Isakson said given the public interest in the future of the hydroelectric operations, it is worth spending some time exploring the matter.
“I’m interested in pursuing a letter,” said Isakson. “Letters for the BCUC are due by June 30, so if there was something this council decided to submit, we would need to look at a draft at our June 22 meeting.”
Councillor George Doubt said this is a complicated legal question. After consulting a number of people, the city had written to Evolugen, and BCUC and the federal organization that oversees the export of power, indicating the main goal as a city was to make sure the power company had the option of selling power to businesses in Powell River, he added.
“That letter didn’t talk about whether it should be a private or public utility,” said Doubt. “I wouldn’t be asking anyone in town what would be best for a power company to be, I’d be looking at some high-powered legal advice, telling us exactly what the legal implications were for the city.
“It’s not something we can think about in a meeting where we’ve tacked it on. It deserves some thought and some professional advice from our staff before we do anything.”
Mayor Ron Woznow said interim chief administrative officer Tom Day had confirmed that city staff does not have expertise in this area and that if a legal opinion is to be sought, it will not be part of the arrangement with the city’s law firm, so it would be an additional expense.
Councillor Cindy Elliott said it would be due diligence to schedule an in-camera meeting and get some advice on the matter. Councillor Jim Palm said Evolugen representatives could also be invited to the meeting.
Isakson made a motion that the city direct staff to report back with comments and recommendations on council’s participation in the BCUC investigation into PREI’s status as a public utility.
The motion carried unanimously.
According to the BCUC website, the commission has already received letters of comment from Tla’amin Nation, K. Dryden and L. Moffatt. After the June 30 deadline for letters of comment, PREI will have until July 14 to file responses to the letters that come in.
