BC Hydro
| BC Hydro
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Crown Corporation ( public company ) |
| founding | 1961 |
| Seat |
Vancouver Canada
|
| management | Jessica McDonald (President and CEO) |
| Number of employees | 6,128 (2011) |
| sales | CAD 5,657 million (2015/16) |
| Branch | power supply |
| Website | bchydro.com |
BC Hydro (actually British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority ) is an energy supply company for the Canadian province of British Columbia . According to its own information, it supplies more than 1.9 million customers. It thus has an almost monopoly in the province, as it supplies 95% of households. The company is accountable to the BC Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources and is governed by the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC).
The company operates 31 hydropower plants and two gas power plants . Depending on the amount of precipitation and evaporation rates, BC Hydro delivers between 43,000 and 54,000 gigawatt hours per year , around four fifths of which come from hydropower plants on the Fraser River and the Peace River . The state company owns more than 79,000 km of overland power lines as well as household and industrial supply lines.
history
One of the company's roots goes back to Victoria in 1860 when the Victoria Gas Company was founded. In addition to the utilization of gas, the production of electricity is another source. It goes back to the year 1883, when Robert McMicking and some investors took over the Victoria Electric Illuminating Company and they managed to set up the first commercial street lighting in Victoria.
The first power station was made possible by funds from financier Robert Horne-Payne and later Lieutenant Governor Francis Stillman Barnard . It originated in 1898. In 1928 the company was taken over by the Montreal- based Power Corporation .
In 1945, after preparation by the BC Power Commission , numerous private energy companies were nationalized. This led to catching up investments and to a stronger supply of the spacious rural areas. In 1961, power plants were available to more than 200 communities, even if they were often nothing more than a diesel generator .
The provincial government under WAC Bennett founded BC Hydro in 1961, which within a few years became one of Canada's largest energy producers. This has to do with the Columbia River Treaty, in which the company agreed with the United States to supply electricity from four dam construction projects. Larger dam projects were built on the Peace and Columbia Rivers (see Revelstoke Dam ), but also on the border between BC and Montana . The province also bought BC Electric in 1961 . In the following year this company merged with the Power Commission under the direction of the province, as the so-called Crown Corporation under the name British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority , or BC Hydro for short .
With the Duncan Dam (1967, 8.76 km³), the W. A. C. Bennett Dam (1967, 70.31 km³), the Arrow Dam (1968, 8.63 km³) - he was later renamed Hugh Keenleyside Dam - and the Mica Dam (1973, 14.8 km³) the company not only fulfilled its contractual obligations, but also expanded the national drinking water and electricity reserves. Initially, no consideration was given to ecological interests, especially with a view to fish stocks, or ethnic issues, such as the destruction of archaeological sites, or property issues; 2,300 landowners had to give way to the project. The establishment of the Columbia Basin Trust (1995) now provides a certain amount of compensation, even if the loss of archaeological sites cannot be compensated for.
While the 1960s and 1970s were characterized by capacity expansion, more and more sub-areas were outsourced in the 1980s. Powertech Labs were created for test and research purposes , Westech Information Systems for computer services , and Powerex for electricity trading. At the end of the 1980s, the emphasis was more on increasing the efficiency than on further expansions.
In 2002, the company decided to take severe cost-saving measures. At the same time, the service area with regard to customers (Field Services) and technology (Engineering Services) was expanded. At the end of the same year, the province adopted the ambitious plan "Energy for our Future: A Plan for BC". The new BC Transmission Corporation (BCTC) will make the supply more secure, bring the province profits from electricity trading, and at the same time better integrate the possibilities of independent electricity producers.
In 2003, 1,500 employees were outsourced to the partner company Accenture Business Services of British Columbia . She is responsible for personnel management, customer relations, building management, finance and accounting, and also for purchasing. BC Hydro employs around 4,400 people in total.
particularities
A peculiarity of Canadian energy supply companies is that their power plants and lines are partly located on reservation areas of the First Nations , as the Indians of Canada are called from a political perspective. This is particularly true of British Columbia, where there are around 1,700 reserves . BC Hydro's facilities touch over 500 of these reserves from 169 of the 197 First Nations in British Columbia. The company reacts to the special legal and cultural framework conditions that characterize the relationships with these political, social and cultural groups in five areas:
- Business development or economic development - business development
- Communication - Communication
- Education and training in intercultural relationships - cross-cultural training
- Negotiation and consultation - Negotiation & Consultation
- Policy and Government Relations
According to its own statements, BC Hydro accepts the following rights and titles (the latter usually means land claims):
Aboriginal rights refer to practices, traditions and customs ( "Activities") an integral part of the distinct culture of a society of indigenous people (aboriginals), and which were exercised prior to contact with Europeans. The signing of the Oregon Boundary Treaty of 1846, in which the border between British Columbia and the USA was drawn along the 49th parallel, is regarded as a time limit.
Further conditions are that these practices have been practiced for a substantial period of time in order to have become an integral part. To do this, they must be a central, defining component that is characteristic of society. It doesn't have to be unique, but it does have to be distinctive and therefore characteristic. All of this is not enough if there is not a fixed relationship to a resource . Significance itself therefore does not yet constitute a claim. According to the principles of conservation, it must have priority, so it does not lead to an exclusive right. At the same time, the society concerned must prove that the relationship with the country is virulent to this day. This relationship can be modified and further developed, but must go back at least to 1846.
In addition, the rights can include the right to fish, berry-picking, hunting and trapping, but only for the purpose of securing life, but also for social and ceremonial purposes. This relates, for example, to the ceremonial use of trees (cf. Culturally Modified Trees ) or animal habitats .
Exceptionally, the proceeds may also be traded if this trade is in turn an integral part of the culture and if this trade was carried out “to an extent that can best be characterized as commercial”. Even if it started as a reaction to the appearance of the Europeans, and this activity goes back to pre-European conditions, unless they did not already exist before, they will be recognized. However, these cannot be roots that are characteristic of all societies, such as food.
As a basis for the legal specificity, BC Hydro accepts the fact that the rights of the indigenous people are older than those of the European immigrants, but also because of the earlier social organization and independent culture.
The ongoing contract negotiations are intended to translate indigenous rights into modern terminology. This often involves extensive compensation that is reflected in legal proceedings and other disputes. In fiscal 2007 alone, BC Hydro spent $ 7 million for this purpose, for a total of $ 129 million.
See also
Web links
Footnotes
- ^ BC Hydro Executive Team. BC Hydro, accessed June 10, 2017 .
- ↑ Excerpt (list of employees) from the 2011 annual report, in English ( Memento from July 31, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ a b c BC Hydro Quick Facts. (No longer available online.) BC Hydro, formerly the original ; accessed on June 10, 2017 (English). ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Official homepage of the Columbia Basin Trust
- ↑ Our Commitment. BC Hydro, accessed June 10, 2017 .
- ↑ According to BC Hydro information ( BC Hydro's Third Quarter Report Fiscal 2008, p. 20 PDF; 562 kB).
