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John Calvert, Liquid Gold: Energy Privatization in British Columbia (Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing 2008)
LIQUID GOLD is a lucidly written, compelling book that has the reader wondering, within a few pages, why on earth politicians would so ardently seek to implement electricity policies that are so obviously not in the public interest. His introduction clearly lays out the many ways in which electricity privatization in British Columbia has resulted in extra costs to ratepayers, not only in terms of prices, but also security of supply, and environmental damage.
The reader is not left wondering long. The next chapter explains some of the forces driving privatization including the power of international trends, the lobbying of right-wing think tanks and vested interests, and the ideology of conservative political parties.
Calvert's book covers the earlier nationalization of BC Hydro in the 1960s and shows that it was not a socialist move but a pragmatic one intended to ensure the infrastructure necessary for future industrial growth in the province. For years this provided bc with one of the world's most reliable, secure, and low-cost electricity systems, one that also paid handsome dividends to the government. The public ownership of bc Hydro and the lack of a formal electricity market did not prevent British Columbia from making advantageous electricity trades with the us.
He then shows how this has all changed, beginning with the need for bc Hydro to purchase electricity from private generators because of a ban on its own expansion of capacity combined with responsibility to meet future energy needs; forecasts of electricity shortages; and the removal of alternative options for meeting demand. bc Hydro has had to commit...