Monday, April 2, 2012

BC Energy Minister Rich Coleman in defense of high Smart Meter reading is saying its been a cold winter... What!

Energy Minister Rich Coleman is denying there's any problem with the Government's Smart Meter program, even though some BC Hydro customers have complained about a spike in their bills. The NDP is calling for a review of the program by the BC Utilities Commission, but Coleman says that's not necessary, "I think the NDP, quite frankly, are lying to the public about this one.  CKNW  3/27/2012
And:
BC Government "FACTSHEET": Why are utility bills higher in the winter? VICTORIA - In the winter months, BC Hydro typically experiences almost twice as many calls relating to high bills than during the rest of the year. In the majority of cases, BC Hydro is able to establish that higher bills are the result of increased consumption. Increased consumption in the winter is balanced by less electricity use in the summer when the days are warmer and longer.
Then there's this, hot off of the Presses at the Vancouver Sun this morning "Natural gas glut threatens storage crisis and price collapse" Vancouver Sun April 2, 2012  but, but, but by the time I got around to doing the Post this afternoon, the Vancouver Sun must have been pressured by the BC Liberals to get rid of their On-line version.  The link is available on the Internet but the Vancouver Sun web page for the link says   SORRY.
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Natural+glut+threatens+storage+crisis+price+collapse/6394397/story.html

Found it, but I had to go through the USA to get to the Vancouver Sun with this link:
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Natural+glut+threatens+storage+crisis+price+collapse/6394397/story.html    Same link, but the Vancouver Sun newspaper here in BC isn't accepting calls.  I reached it by going to here http://us.topnewstoday.org/us/article/1929946/   which was linked back to the Vancouver Sun with this:


CALGARY — Natural-gas storage facilities across North America have reached record-high inventories, raising the threat of a late summer price collapse and challenging stressed producers.
Gas remaining in storage after an unusually warm winter will probably swell during the second quarter, topping up facilities months ahead of schedule and further pressuring the market, say industry observers.
With demand expected to remain low, producers will see higher fees on pipelines to park the surplus volumes and could be forced to shut in production at the wellhead, said Martin King, an analyst with FirstEnergy Capital Corp.

Snip

Natural gas futures, which were trading near 10-year lows at $2.14 US in New York on Friday, have dropped more than 50 per cent since last June on a combination of reduced demand because of mild weather and burgeoning production from shale-gas plays.
The failure to draw down inventories over the winter resulted in Canadian storage inventories rising to about 544 billion cubic feet this week, more than 70-per-cent higher than a year ago.

Snip

So BC Liberal Energy Minister Rich Coleman, who's lying, you or the Weatherman?


Table 3. Energy Content and Local Price of Various Energy Sources
Energy Soure Energy Content Local Unit Price
Metric Imperial
Electricity 3.6 MJ/kWh 3 413 Btu/kWh $0._____ /kWh
Oil 38.2 MJ/litre 140 000 Btu/gal (US) $0._____ /litre
Natural Gas 37.5 MJ/m³ 1 007 Btu/ft³ $0._____m³
Propane 25.3 MJ/litre 92 700 Btu/gal (US) $0._____litre
Hardwood* 30 600 MJ/cord 28 000 000 Btu/cord _____$/cord
Softwood* 18 700 MJ/cord 17 000 000 Btu/cord _____$/cord
Wood Pellets 19 800 MJ/cord 20 000 000 Btu/cord _____$/cord
Conversion: 1000 MJ= 1 gigajoule (GJ)
* The figure provided for wood are for a "full" cord, measuring
1.2m x 1.2m x 2.4m (4 ft. x 4 ft. x 8ft.)

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