Thread by @Lidsville

Highly irregular accounting practices at BC Hydro continue. Meanwhile in a further irregularity, BC Auditor-General Carol Bellringer has just removed a "qualification" that denotes that Hydro's financial reports don't adhere to standard accounting practice. THREAD. #bcpoli #SiteC

Aud-Gen Bellringer has just removed this "qualification" or warning from BC Hydro's 2018/19 financials, based on a promise from NDP Govt to return BC Hydro to proper accounting practices & BCUC oversight in 2021. Why? And where is media on this? bcpoli

I may have missed media reports on these latest wild west BC Hydro/BC govt shenanigans, but Google only returns 1 media hit on this, in Indo-Canadian Voice:
voiceonline.com/b-c-government…

Meanwhile, this a.m. in back channels there's a flood of outrage amongst financial experts #bcpoli

...Some background: the former BC Liberal govt, in order to raid BC Hydro's finances to look like they were running a balanced prov'l budget, allowed 100% non-standard accounting practices so they could take BCH revenues & hide BCH debt inside multiple "deferral accounts."....

..These bad accounting practices also allowed the BC Libs to hide BC Hydro debt that was accruing from the disastrous IPP program (smaller private 'run-of-river' dams) which forced BC Hydro to buy power from private co's at above market prices. In order to pull this off....

.Gordon Campbell forced thru the misnamed Clean Energy Act, allowing BC govt to bypass oversight by BCUC, the energy regulator @BCUtilitiesCom which would've nixed both IPPs & #SiteC bec 1. BC has an energy surplus & 2. BCUC reps ratepayers & both projects would create rate shock

@BCUtilitiesCom The BC public seems to remain unaware of BC's bad reputation among financial analysts for allowing this sketchy non-standard accounting, esp when it's in BC's by far largest asset, BC Hydro, whose debt when IPP contracts & #SiteC are all included will exceed $70bn. #bcpoli

@BCUtilitiesCom So why is Aud-Gen Carol Bellringer removing the last acknowledgment of the sketchiness of BC Hydro's accounting practices & effectively removing the warning asterisk on BCH's latest report, in return for a govt promise of future better behaviour? What's going on? #bcpoli

@BCUtilitiesCom Why is @jjhorgan's govt promising to only return BC Hydro to BCUC oversight & proper accounting in 2021? Because #SiteC will truly be beyond the point of no return by then, the way #MuskratFalls dam in Nfld now is with catastrophic effects on the entire Nfld provincial economy?

@BCUtilitiesCom @jjhorgan Why is the NDP govt continuing with the extreme opacity around both BC Hydro's finances & #SiteC? Both @jjhorgan & opposition energy critic @adriandix were both explicit & accurate about this runaway Hydro fiefdom mess when they were in opposition. Where are they now? #bcpoli

@BCUtilitiesCom @jjhorgan @adriandix While we're at it, when oversight of energy is returned to the BC Utilities Commission we need to have a full discussion about what its powers should be. Right now govt overrides it, which is unforgivable, but even when BCUC it wasn't fully independent. It must be. #bcpoli #SiteC

@BCUtilitiesCom @jjhorgan @adriandix BC can't develop 21st C energy systems with BC Hydro running like some sort of outdated princedom, like the IOC of energy. Nor can we do it under the so-called Clean Energy Act that restricts Hydro to only dams when wind, geothermal & solar are cheaper & less destructive. #bcpoli

@BCUtilitiesCom @jjhorgan @adriandix To review: tho Aud-Gen Bellringer determined the BC govt had been circumventing national public sector accounting standards by allowing BC Hydro to use rate-regulated accounting without an independent 3rd-party regulator, she now gives Hydro a pass. Over to you, media. #bcpoli

@BCUtilitiesCom @jjhorgan @adriandix The Wild West isn't nearly as romantic as it sounds. It arrives through your mailbox in the form of an inflated Hydro bill when BC has an energy surplus, all so ratepayers can, among other things, subsidize river-destroying private dam corps & #SNCLavalin up at #SiteC. Yeehaw.

@BCUtilitiesCom @jjhorgan @adriandix If BCUC had had oversight of BC Hydro, #SiteC would *never* have gone ahead. BC has too much surplus energy & it's needlessly expensive. That's why Campbell sidelined BCUC.

BC public should demand:
- full financial & enviro review of Site C & budget
- full BCUC oversight powers

@BCUtilitiesCom @jjhorgan @adriandix PS I've had to leave lots of information out here. It's complicated. So if anyone has questions, please ask them - no question too stupid - and if I can't answer them, I have a pile of people who can - experts behind the scenes who are extremely alarmed and angry about BC Hydro.

@BCUtilitiesCom @jjhorgan @adriandix PS please note this tweet from @BCAuditorGen 2 days ago. She protests this accounting mess, but after she goes & rubber stamps BC Hydro's financials without qualification, in exchange for a BC govt promise they'll fix this in 2021. Why? It's sketchy now.

https://twitter.com/BCAuditorGen/status/1152268154812301312