We are writing this to reach out to members of parliament the legislative assembly, as well as British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC), Justin Trudeau, Cathy Mcleod,  Peter Milobar, Andrew J Weaver, John Horgan and David M. Morton Chair and Chief Executive Officer of BCUC. We are asking you to come together to make BC Hydro change regulations and fees, to quit forcing us to donate our hard earned money to charity especially without consent. Also we are asking you stop the prejudice charging practices to all their customers and incorporate fair rate charges concerning BC Hydro's notorious Rate Rider charge.

As a province wide problem we are very concerned of the direction BC Hydro has begun to turn. With this petition we hope to increase awareness of the actions of BC Hydro and it is hoped the possibility of an action plan for some change will begin. BC Hydro is most of the provinces only option aside from going off the grid. In this the mention of some ideas on how to try to implement some of these programs with a neutral approach. With hope and a petition maybe the right government will get involved to end some of the unfair prejudice practices that are affecting us now, that have the potential to get even more unrealistic and unfair as time passes.

It is no secret most of us pay quite a bit of money each month to have regular on going services such as electricity in our homes. Have you ever really looked into what these charges mean, what the problems are with them as well as how they affect all of us? The Rate Rider charge for an example, this is an apparent charge for the unexpected situations such as say a storm, example- a storm passes through and damages a line, it now needs fixing, the rate rider funds are apparently used in these cases, along with many other scenarios. Keep in mind these are situations out of anyone's hands! So why is this charge so prejudice and based on 5% of the amount of your Hydro bill? If the rates for consumption that BC Hydro got approved to raise because of those costs along with other raising costs weren't enough fine, why make a prejudice charge? This rate rider if being charged at all should be a standard rate that is equally paid! An example of a fair fee for emergencies would be the 911 fee on our phone bills we all pay each month. Along with the charge should come a page in your bill dedicated to keeping the consumer informed. In this info should be, which bank their (the consumer) money is sitting in until a disaster takes place where funds are needed, how much funds were used, what is left in that account if any, the interest being earned on our sitting money and finally a plan to give back to the consumer at the end of a period, whether it be a credit from monies and interest incurred shared equally back or even a game plan for future plan developments that would be voted fairly on say every three years democratically.

There is 4,631,000 people in British Columbia as of July 2014, how much of this population actually have a Hydro bill, only BC Hydro will know however if we even take half of this population 2,315,500 where this half of the population has a Hydro bill and multiply 5% of say an average bi-monthly bill of $100 for each individual at this rate and cost it's $5 per bill for a rate rider fee so bi-monthly that's $11,577,500.00 that's $69,465,000.00 yearly BC Hydro would collect based on those figures for unexpected emergency costs that may or may not happen! ( these are not BC Hydro's true figures but would be something close to these). I'm going to use myself as an example to show how this is very unfair keep in mind I realise everyone's situation is very individually based. I have many people in my home so it's expected my bill will be higher for consumption. Now my very own average Hydro bill is around $400-$600 bi-monthly in the summer ( that would make my own rate rider fee $20-$30 dollars bi-monthly in summer months) and winter months are around $800 to $1400 bi-monthly (that would make my rate rider fee $40 - $70 dollars bi-monthly in winter months) that's saying something for sure! Seems to be a very prejudice fee, my fees for possible province wide incidentals are higher because my consumption is! Along with others it's felt that's it's about time BC Hydro lay out financial details, we are being charged this fee called the basic charge fee of $0.19560 cents per day for accountant and office and other fees so that things run smoothly in office, our bill information is available and other things fall under this charge as well, so this should be apart of our financial explanation with no more added charges for this information for its being paid by our basic charge.

On another note, how would you feel if someone Forced you to donate to say a church organisation or a fundraiser that you don't agree with? Even if it's not that you don't agree where the donations are going, you don't get a choice and you also don't get to choose how much your donating! Then on top of that you can't even use the forced donations on your taxes as donations for a tax reduction at the end of the tax year, yes don't forget your being taxed pst and gst on your forced donations! (Meanwhile the organisation receiving your forced donations are able to use your money as a donation tax break on their end because they are donating to "others. Well this is Exactly what's happening through BC Hydro's new program called the Customer Crisis Charge fee, if it becomes accepted not only is it wrong but could likely get the approval to increase as the rates do. The difference between the top scenario and BC Hydro is, BC Hydro is donating yours and my forced donations through this new program to themself on behalf of other people's lack of ability due to their own crisis. Those crisis situations that lead to one's inability could be from death to bad habits and really the forced donations being collected from us consumers is yes more money in BC Hydro's pocket! With the top scenario of a forced donation to an organisation at least the donation is going to actually help one in need ( going to them the person in need)! God forbid I shall lose a close relative tomorrow and have a crisis, but have a situation like this happen I can't forcefully make Every single BC resident who is responsible for bill paying, pay me a donation each day for my areas of inadequacy or loss, it wouldn't matter my situation, it isn't legal it's theft and wouldn't be fair or right to try and change law to implement that, hence the created go-fund-me pages and other ways to raise funds for needy situations. BC Hydro has implemented this new charge that is called a Customer Crisis Fund charge, this charge is meant to pay another customers bill, it works out to charging every BC Hydro customer $0.008135593220 cents each day incase one of their other customers can't pay a bill due to a crisis. BC Hydro now is expecting their other clients to pay and are forcing on every single BC Hydro customer to donate to this fund without consent! If it's not paid you will incur interest on it just like the rest of your bill and will pay the penalty of not paying your bill as it's now apart of your BC Hydro bill. If a said "crisis fund" is going to be in existence through BC Hydro, it should be by choice! Kind of like a insurance plan, if you pay into it you can reap the benefits shall you need it at some time for a crisis.

If you are seeking fair treatment and wanting a change too Please take the time to review your BC Hydro bill, get familiar with the procedures and financial expectancies of you as a customer. If you to believe we are all being bullied into a unfairly laid out program that is robbing monies through a forced donation program run by BC Hydro, also if you feel your being treated in a prejudice manner and don't feel you are being treated as an equal regarding the rate rider program and feel change is needed, Please sign this petition and share it high and low! The squeaky wheel gets the grease, no change will happen if we don't try! Let's band together for a positive change ! Remember this affects All of us!

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