$59,000 more Every Month for Fortis Power

 As a city resident I have to be glad they are going after you rural people to pay more for Nelson hydro power excess Fortis power purchases.  Nelson hydro can't make all their power and buy half from Fortis most in winter if not all.

Th is going after another  5.72% rurally each sept. 1 for the next 3 years.   In addition to the estimated normal January increases could amount to rural electric bills approaching 28% more in that time.

On the morning of Feb. 8th, 2021 a new record of power consumption was created for Nelson hydro.

I am sure we have had much colder times it must have been a bad coincidence that everyone got up and turned everything on at the same time.

This resulted in an extra $59,000 per month charge for the next years power purchases from Fortis.

There is some kind of formula, sometimes referred to as a ratchet clause,  or wire and line charges.

The city estimated over $7M in Fortis power purchases this coming year, with this additional $59,000 per month  plus their 4.26% increase this year and it could exceed $8M. About half of that is for power the rest is for demand charges.

Sure glad you rural customers are going to get stuck with almost all of that.

Most of you likely don't know that there are two charges for power from Fortis, one is called demand the other energy.

About half of the annual charges are for energy(power).  The other half for demand.

What is demand?  In order to keep the power on without brownouts or problems Fortis must build their system to handle that maximum load even if it only lasts for 15 minutes a year.  That is where this demand charge comes from.  Seems awfully high but its the way the system works.

How could the city mitigate this demand charge?  Peak shaving is the word.  If they could just make power some other way to eliminate the short peak.  Standby generators?  Long ago the hydro manager  Pierce Walsh, before my time, used a city standby generator to shave that peak and the news item of the day  said it saved the city $30,000.  That was decades ago.

The engineers drawings for the replacement city primary water line, approaching one hundred years old shows two potential hydro power generation possibilities.  That power could peak shave.

The recent city Selous creek water line extension engineering showed a hydro generation potential , they didn't put it in. That could have helped.

The economics said it was still cheaper to buy Fortis power.  I wonder if they calculated the potential savings that might come from peak shaving for the next century.

The city gravity water system has pressure reducing valves, new technology allows one to make power and reduce pressure.  One of these is ready to go.  It has the advantage of making the most power with the most water flow.   This should coincide with every one getting up and turning on the water, having a shower etc.  The economics almost showed a business case.  That could help peak shaving.

The solar garden didn't have to pass that economic test, it was exempt, it had no business case.

The solar garden in the morning of February 8th like any morning in the year made no power.

Every other solar power system in the city in the morning made no power.

These new buildings being built to step code 5 using solar panels would make no power.  No solar power will ever help peak shaving.

When all these solar systems send summer power to the grid Nelson hydro pays them full retail credit.

In winter when solar doesn't work, they all cash in these credits while Nelson hydro is buying excess power from Fortis at premium prices.  Sure glad they are going after you rural people for this.

With all the electric vehicles coming,. battery efficiency in winter drops way off so they will all consume more power.  More Fortis winter power.

With compounding the gap will continue to widen between city and rural electric rates.  Might not be long before you are paying 50% more than city customers and filling all those summer time solar credits with expensive Fortis power, paying for EV charging.  And of course for everyone else who has solar even the Balfour public buildings systems and all the other grant funded solar systems.

Thanks once again for helping me with my electric bills.  The city is unaffordable enough already.

OR you could demand the city abide by their hydro bylaw that says they won't buy anyone's power unless it makes economic sense.  ie only pay their wholesale cost just like BC Hydro and Fortis do for anyone's excess solar.  At least you won't be paying for all these solar systems cashing in their summer credits for expensive Fortis power.

FYI   Just trying to help, our pockets are being picked enough for solar power, I was trying to get that message across with my previous posts.  Not very welcomed by many, definitly not solar salespeople.

In case you missed my earlier info click here.