Gas Prices

[EastVanMark]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

Much of BC's electrical infrastructure was funded by the Columbia River Treaty, which Bennett is said to have been instrumental in negotiating.

“Said to have been?” Make no mistake. It was all him, and nobody but him. He transformed the province overnight, and forced others to build and pay for the infrastructure needed. The GOAT Premier, but would likely never even be be elected today

[NewfBC]

Hmm.. I wonder what causes the price of gas to go from 181.9 to 191.9 (over 5% increase) on an early Sunday afternoon.....

Ron.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by NewfBC

Hmm.. I wonder what causes the price of gas to go from 181.9 to 191.9 (over 5% increase) on an early Sunday afternoon.....

Ron.

Maintenance issues on the Olympic pipeline possibly. Some guy just said Vancouver stations are still selling at 179.9 so if you're really keen then check GasBuddy

https://twitter.com/GasPriceWizard/status/1584368365929263106

[EMD710]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Maintenance issues on the Olympic pipeline possibly. Some guy just said Vancouver stations are still selling at 179.9 so if you're really keen then check GasBuddy

https://twitter.com/GasPriceWizard/status/1584368365929263106

Prices are all over the place from $1.799 to $1.939. Depends on the location.

[jollyburger]

And back up we go.

The price of gas in the Lower Mainland is tipped to rise another seven cents into Thursday, as oil prices and tight supply hit the region again.

Paul Pasco, the principal consultant at Kalibrate, says prices will hit around $1.98 for a litre of regular by the morning.

“It’s just the rising price of crude. There’s been a continued supply tightness globally and it’s pushing prices up, and we’re seeing it across the market,” he told CityNews.

Pasco says the rise is happening across all North American markets, “a steady increase” in costs everywhere, he notes.

There’s potential for the price at the pump to continue to rise, Pasco adds, as there’s not a lot of room in the market for prices to fall, considering “we’re already pricing in a recession.”

“Any news that’s at all positive on the economic front or negative on the supply front is going to continue to push the price of crude oil [up], which will push prices a little bit higher.”

As many pundits believe prices at the pump will stay below $2 a litre through the end of the year, Pasco says it’s a possibility, saying he doesn’t see a lot of changes happening in the crude oil market.

“I think the big risk right now would be some substantial changes in China that could lead to increased demand over that region. But outside of that, I don’t see any major drivers in the market that should push prices up,” he said. “But it is not impossible.”

While Pasco says a recession and a possible fall in demand for crude oil across the globe could drive down prices, he notes the recent OPEC cuts, along with the United States releasing its petroleum reserves, are factors balancing themselves out.

“There’s not a lot of extra supply. And so, unless we see a substantial change in demand, I don’t expect that even with a recession we’ll see gasoline prices fall.”

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2022/10/26/bc-gas-prices-rise/

[jollyburger]

Weird.

Horseshoe Bay EV charging station inflicts $6K worth of car damages
A number of people have had their cars towed after attempting to charge it at this faulty charging port.
Mina Kerr-Lazenby, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Mina Kerr-Lazenby, Local
A BC Hydro electric vehicle charging station in Horseshoe Bay has damaged at least two cars, with one woman facing over $6,000 in repairs.

On Thursday afternoon, two cars that had been plugged in to the charging station on the corner of Bruce Street and Royal Avenue had to be towed away from the site after both vehicles failed to start.

“I turn my car on to leave and it won’t go into reverse, it won’t go into drive either, and there’s a display of colourful lights in my car that are giving me warnings,” said Hannah Sopcak, who had used the charging port countless times before without issue.

Sopcak, visiting the mainland from her home on Bowen Island, had errands to run and had planned to pick up a friend from school. With a tight schedule to adhere to, she had waited in the 2013 Nissan Leaf while giving it a brief, 20-minute charge.

When the car refused to start properly, Sopcak called her mom, who in turn called a tow truck.

“While I’m waiting, another guy comes up to charge his car, and he seems pretty confident that the same thing wouldn’t happen to him as he had a newer Nissan Leaf,” said Sopcak.

“He plugs in his car while I’m waiting for my mom to arrive, and when we return from running errands – almost two hours – he’s still there, because his car has been ruined by the charger too.”

“So now we’re both waiting for the tow truck, and we’re both really confused.”

It wasn’t until Friday evening that they received the prognosis: there was damage to the battery and it would take a week, and $6,300, to repair. With Sopcak’s vehicle no longer under warranty, she is forced to front the costs herself in addition to paying for the tow truck and an emergency rental car.

Jenny Sopcak said the second driver, who she has remained in contact with, will have the damage covered but he too is hoping to have the tow truck and the car rental covered. Neither have yet heard back from BC Hydro.

Tina Clark, who runs a dog grooming business opposite the charging station, said the two incidents had been the latest in a string of car casualties.

“Jenny and another fellow’s car had been the fourth or fifth to be towed from this certain EV charging station ever since they did upgrades to it,” said Clark, who said she had seen BC Hydro upgrade the station “about two to three weeks ago.”

Since Thursday she has seen numerous people attempt to charge their car only to move on when they notice the station has been deemed out of order, she said.

BC Hydro spokesperson Susie Rieder said the electric services company is “committed to working with the customer” through their claims process.

“Last week, two cars were affected by a possible performance issue at our charging station in Horseshoe Bay,” she said.

“As soon as we heard about the issue, it was immediately taken out of service and replaced with a new charger the next day.”

Rieder said BC Hydro is still working to find out exactly what happened.

“A team is currently investigating so we can try to avoid anything happening like this again in the future.”

https://www.nsnews.com/local-news/horseshoe-bay-ev-charging-damages-6169112

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Weird.

Yeah, the DC Fast Charging stations connect high voltage DC directly to the vehicle battery in order to charge it. They're supposed to respond to the voltage level dictated by the car, but I can easily imagine that if some sort of fault applied a voltage that was excessive it could cause damage.

This is essentially the EV equivalent of getting contaminated gasoline from a service station. I expect the BC Hydro will end up paying to have the cars repaired (and they may in turn look to the vendor of the charging equipment for compensation). But it sure is a hassle to deal with.

I had one occasion where I tried to hit the "Start" button on to turn on my Chevy Bolt at almost exactly the same time that my girlfriend disconnected me from a Level 2 charger and the car went into a funky state where it wouldn't quite start properly and wouldn't quite turn off properly.

I took my handy 10mm wrench from the trunk and used to to briefly disconnect the 12V battery in order to reset the car's ECU. Problem solved and I was on my way.

I had to do similar to a friend's car with a conventional gas engine once when its HVAC system started to act up. Modern cars are so dependent on computers and software that it's a good idea to have a way to reboot them if they start acting up. Doesn't sound like it would have helped with the problems cited in the article, but nice to have just in case.

[whatnext]

Of course BC Hydro should pay for it. After all they’ll soon have a monopoly on powering vehicles. Even if gas stations transition somehow to EV charging stations, they’ll still have to buy power from the crown utility. Quite a sweet setup for the province.

[Jimbo604]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Of course BC Hydro should pay for it. After all they’ll soon have a monopoly on powering vehicles. Even if gas stations transition somehow to EV charging stations, they’ll still have to buy power from the crown utility. Quite a sweet setup for the province.

Luckily BC with its abundant green hydropower has some of the lowest electricity rates in North America (along with Quebec and its hydropower).

Anyways, gas back down to 1.58. And that, my forum friends, is why the government is so reticent to heed the many calls to lower gas taxes when the price of gas is high.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Of course BC Hydro should pay for it. After all they’ll soon have a monopoly on powering vehicles. Even if gas stations transition somehow to EV charging stations, they’ll still have to buy power from the crown utility. Quite a sweet setup for the province.

Energy independence isn't so bad.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Of course BC Hydro should pay for it. After all they’ll soon have a monopoly on powering vehicles. Even if gas stations transition somehow to EV charging stations, they’ll still have to buy power from the crown utility. Quite a sweet setup for the province.

You trust oil and gas companies more?

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

You trust oil and gas companies more?

At least they have some competition.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by whatnext

At least they have some competition.

Wow. I guess you're entitled to that opinion.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Wow. I guess you're entitled to that opinion.

To be fair, distribution of oil and gas is much easier to have a free market for than electricity distribution. Can't exactly load up a truck with electricity, but pretty easy to load up a truck with oil (and to a lesser extent gas)

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by chowhou

To be fair, distribution of oil and gas is much easier to have a free market for than electricity distribution. Can't exactly load up a truck with electricity, but pretty easy to load up a truck with oil (and to a lesser extent gas)

You can literally make your own electricity.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

You can literally make your own electricity.

Less than 1% of people realistically are producing more than 10% of their own electricity usage and none of them are selling electricity to their neighbours without BC Hydro's help.

For a while there was an uptick in independent run-of-river projects, but they're all beholden to BC Hydro.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by chowhou

Less than 1% of people realistically are producing more than 10% of their own electricity usage and none of them are selling electricity to their neighbours without BC Hydro's help.

For a while there was an uptick in independent run-of-river projects, but they're all beholden to BC Hydro.

I'm just saying, it's an option.

I can't believe we're even trying to compare BC Hydro vs. international oil and gas companies in fairness. There's no question who is more responsible to customers and taxpayers.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I'm just saying, it's an option.

I can't believe we're even trying to compare BC Hydro vs. international oil and gas companies in fairness. There's no question who is more responsible to customers and taxpayers.

I don't think anyone was saying that oil and gas companies are fair, just that BC Hydro has a monopoly on selling electricity in BC. IMO, it would be extremely hard to compete given the capital investments required (transmission lines and municipal infrastructure) so it's not comparable to oil and gas where you could in theory open a refinery of any size anywhere you want or purchase exploration rights anywhere and sell anything you find.

I'm pretty happy with electricity prices in BC, but don't be fooled into thinking that it's the best deal we could have. Nothing is stopping the government from asking BC Hydro to make them a bit more money.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by chowhou

I'm pretty happy with electricity prices in BC, but don't be fooled into thinking that it's the best deal we could have. Nothing is stopping the government from asking BC Hydro to make them a bit more money.

Just those pesky elections every 4 years or so.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Just those pesky elections every 4 years or so.

Never stopped the government requesting more and more ICBC dividends.