1998 Legislative Session: 3rd Session, 36th Parliament
FIRST READING


The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.
The printed version remains the official version.


HONOURABLE JOY K. MacPHAIL
MINISTER OF FINANCE AND
CORPORATE RELATIONS

BILL 6 -- 1998

BRITISH COLUMBIA HYDRO AND POWER AUTHORITY
RATE FREEZE AND PROFIT SHARING ACT, 1998

HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

 
Tax and Consumer Rate Freeze Act

1 Section 2 of the Tax and Consumer Rate Freeze Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 447, is amended by renumbering the section as section 2 (1) and by adding the following subsection:

(2) Without limiting subsection (1) and despite the Utilities Commission Act, the rates and rate schedules that were in effect on December 10, 1997 and that are prescribed by the regulations are the only lawful, enforceable and collectable rates that the British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority may collect, charge or enforce from December 10, 1997 to March 31, 2000 for the services to which those rates apply.

2 Section 8 (2) is amended by adding the following paragraph:

(d) prescribing rates and rate schedules for the purposes of section 2 (2).

Hydro and Power Authority Act

3 Section 35 of the Hydro and Power Authority Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 212, is repealed and the following substituted:

Directives

35 Despite the Utilities Commission Act, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may issue directives directing the authority in a fiscal year to pay to the government an amount specified in the directive and may issue directives directing the authority in a fiscal year to pay to the persons constituting one or more classes of the authority's past or present customers an amount specified in the directive.

Commencement

4 (1) Sections 1 and 2 are deemed to have come into force on December 10, 1997 and are retroactive to the extent necessary to give them effect on and after that date.

(2) Section 3 is deemed to have come into force on March 31, 1998 and is retroactive to the extent necessary to give it effect on and after that date.

 
Explanatory Notes

 
Tax and Consumer Rate Freeze Act

SECTION 1: [Tax and Consumer Rate Freeze Act, amends section 2] freezes electricity rates that are to be prescribed by regulation at their December 10, 1997 level until March 31, 2000.

SECTION 2: [Tax and Consumer Rate Freeze Act, adds section 8 (2) (d)] expressly provides for the regulations that will identify the electricity rates to be frozen under section 2 (2) of the Tax and Consumer Rate Freeze Act as amended by this Bill.

Hydro and Power Authority Act

SECTION 3: [Hydro and Power Authority Act, re-enacts section 35] allows the Lieutenant Governor in Council, by directive, to direct BC Hydro to pay specified amounts to past and present customers of the authority as well as to the government.


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