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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

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.

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

Section 35 of the Hydro and Power Authority Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 212, is repealed and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

(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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