By Rochelle Baker \u00a0Local Journalism Initiative Reporter BC Hydro has been ordered to repay a small coastal First Nation more than $700,000 after unfairly charging them an extra annual fee for electricity for nearly a decade. The $85,000 yearly fee, embedded in a 2014 electricity service agreement between the utility company and the tiny Gitga’at First Nation of Hartley Bay, wasn’t approved and was ruled as “unjust, unreasonable and unduly discriminatory” by the province’s energy regulator this fall. During the complaint process, it was revealed that four other remote Indigenous communities, the Kwadacha, Uchucklesaht, Tsay Keh Dene, and Dease River First Nation, were also charged various extra fees in addition to their electricity rates. No non-Indigenous remote communities getting similar services were charged additional fees. The individual contracts with each… <\/p>\n
By Rochelle Baker \u00a0Local Journalism Initiative Reporter BC Hydro has been ordered to repay a small coastal First Nation more than $700,000 after unfairly charging them an extra annual fee for electricity for nearly a decade. The $85,000 yearly fee, embedded in a 2014 electricity service agreement between the utility company and the tiny Gitga’at First Nation of Hartley Bay, wasn’t approved and was ruled as “unjust, unreasonable and unduly discriminatory” by the province’s energy regulator this fall. During the complaint process, it was revealed that four other remote Indigenous communities, the Kwadacha, Uchucklesaht, Tsay Keh Dene, and Dease River First Nation, were also charged various extra fees in addition to their electricity rates. No non-Indigenous remote communities getting similar services were charged additional fees. The individual contracts with each... <\/p>\n