Nanaimo resident Rick Butzelaar bought an electric vehicle less than two months ago and the savings so far have been significant, but he doesn’t have a home charger and a recent bid by BC Hydro to increase public charging rates has him concerned.
The provincial Crown corporation wants to raise rates at public electric vehicle charging stations by 15 per cent from Sept. 1, which the company says would allow it to recover the costs of providing them over 10 years.
When Butzelaar and his partner sold two gas-powered cars and bought an electric Volkswagen, he estimates they saved about $350 in the first month on fuel alone.
While researching electric vehicles, he said he discovered that all chargers aren’t the same, some charging much faster than others, some charging fees by the minute, and some by the amount of power consumed.
BC Hydro says the new rates would vary depending on the type of charger employed. Time-based charges would be between three and 60 cents per minute, and power-based charges from 33 to 44 cents per kilowatt hour. Extended-stay charges would be 40 cents per minute.
The BC Utilities Commission has appointed a panel to consider the July 28 application and is currently accepting public comments.
When Butzelaar found out BC Hydro was seeking a rate increase, he emailed the commission, urging the regulator to deny the company’s “illogical” request because it still wants to charge fees by the minute.
In its submissions to the utilities commission, BC Hydro says the proposed rate hike is “just and reasonable,” and will protect its other customers from the costs of providing power through public charging stations.
BC Hydro notified customers about the proposed rate increase earlier this month, prompting Butzelaar and others to write to the utilities commission, which posted public comment letters this week.
“I do not feel that BC Hydro should be granted a rate increase at their EV chargers at this time. First, they should not be allowed any increase until they change from by the minute to by the (kilowatt hour) charging,” wrote Warren Lemcke of Surrey.
“As I am sure you know, the rate that a vehicle draws electricity from a BC Hydro machine is determined by the vehicle, not the machine.”
Other letters echo Butzelaar and Lemcke’s concerns.
“There should be no problem in charging by the kilowatt hour rather then the minute,” wrote Saul Brudy of Nanaimo.
“BC Hydro already has infrastructure in place where they can read my home meter and charge me for the appropriate amount of kilowatts my home has used.”
“BC Hydro should be providing EV charging at a reduced rate to encourage people to switch (to) EV’s,” her letter says. “BC Hydro should be displaying leadership in encouraging EV ownership by providing non-market prices.”
Blair Qualey, president and CEO of the New Car Dealers Association, said he sometimes uses BC Hydro’s public charging stations for his electric vehicle.
He said he understands that BC Hydro needs to keep up with its own costs.
“But it doesn’t mean we necessarily like to see more costs being put on consumers in B.C.,” he said. “Consumers who are thinking about electric vehicles need as many incentives as possible to make that step.”
He said many people are curious about the costs of electric vehicle ownership, but “range anxiety” remains an issue, with confusion about how long a battery charge will last and how far it can take them.
“It just adds a further stumbling block, I think, in the process of consumers trying to make the decision to, you know, put their toe in the water for an electric vehicle,” he said.
Qualey said the association hasn’t decided on a formal position about the proposed rate hikes, but he said BC Hydro needs to be transparent and communicative to properly educate the public about the need for them.
“Folks can say, ‘geez, yeah, that makes sense. I don’t necessarily want to pay more, but I see where it’s going to help me and the province down the road,’ and they might accept it,” Qualey said.
BC Hydro did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Netflix on Thursday reported that its subscriber growth slowed dramatically during the summer, a sign the huge gains from the video-streaming service’s crackdown on freeloading viewers is tapering off.
The 5.1 million subscribers that Netflix added during the July-September period represented a 42% decline from the total gained during the same time last year. Even so, the company’s revenue and profit rose at a faster pace than analysts had projected, according to FactSet Research.
Netflix ended September with 282.7 million worldwide subscribers — far more than any other streaming service.
The Los Gatos, California, company earned $2.36 billion, or $5.40 per share, a 41% increase from the same time last year. Revenue climbed 15% from a year ago to $9.82 billion. Netflix management predicted the company’s revenue will rise at the same 15% year-over-year pace during the October-December period, slightly than better than analysts have been expecting.
The strong financial performance in the past quarter coupled with the upbeat forecast eclipsed any worries about slowing subscriber growth. Netflix’s stock price surged nearly 4% in extended trading after the numbers came out, building upon a more than 40% increase in the company’s shares so far this year.
The past quarter’s subscriber gains were the lowest posted in any three-month period since the beginning of last year. That drop-off indicates Netflix is shifting to a new phase after reaping the benefits from a ban on the once-rampant practice of sharing account passwords that enabled an estimated 100 million people watch its popular service without paying for it.
The crackdown, triggered by a rare loss of subscribers coming out of the pandemic in 2022, helped Netflix add 57 million subscribers from June 2022 through this June — an average of more than 7 million per quarter, while many of its industry rivals have been struggling as households curbed their discretionary spending.
Netflix’s gains also were propelled by a low-priced version of its service that included commercials for the first time in its history. The company still is only getting a small fraction of its revenue from the 2-year-old advertising push, but Netflix is intensifying its focus on that segment of its business to help boost its profits.
In a letter to shareholder, Netflix reiterated previous cautionary notes about its expansion into advertising, though the low-priced option including commercials has become its fastest growing segment.
“We have much more work to do improving our offering for advertisers, which will be a priority over the next few years,” Netflix management wrote in the letter.
As part of its evolution, Netflix has been increasingly supplementing its lineup of scripted TV series and movies with live programming, such as a Labor Day spectacle featuring renowned glutton Joey Chestnut setting a world record for gorging on hot dogs in a showdown with his longtime nemesis Takeru Kobayashi.
Netflix will be trying to attract more viewer during the current quarter with a Nov. 15 fight pitting former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson against Jake Paul, a YouTube sensation turned boxer, and two National Football League games on Christmas Day.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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