Editor's note: Byng Giraud is the Country Manager & VP, Corporate Affairs Woodfibre LNG Limited. This letter is in response to some things said by Mayor Patricia Heintzman in Ruling a boomtown: Q&A with Mayor Patricia Heintzman (Sept. 21)
Imagine you were invited to a restaurant for dinner. All of the dinner guests, including you, purchased the same kind of meal and service. Each dinner guest was being charged $54.34 plus tax for the dinner – but you had to pay a premium rate of $83.02 plus tax.
During dinner, the restaurant host decided to charge you $54.34 plus tax, the same as everyone else. Is that a subsidy?
No. That is about ensuring fairness.
Initially, LNG projects that powered their facilities with electricity from BC Hydro were going to be charged a premium rate for electricity ($83.02 per MWh plus tax in 2014).
With the introduction of the “eDrive” rate in November 2016, LNG projects will be charged the same rate for electricity as any other industrial rate customer (on average $54.34 per MWh plus tax in 2014). That’s not a subsidy. That’s treating mines, factories, and other industrial customers like LNG projects the same; which is only fair.
