POWERFUL DRIVE TO UNCOVER POT GROW OPS

B.C. Hydro Sharing Electricity Use Details With City And RCMP

High Hydro readings are helping pinpoint properties in Courtenay
where illegal grow-op activity could be taking place.

The electricity stats are powering a drive to track down indoor
marijuana operations and arrest operators.

The City of Courtenay has teamed up with the RCMP and B.C. Hydro for
the new program, which has already delivered startling results in
Coquitlam and Surrey on the Lower Mainland.

Hydro is now supplying Courtenay city staff with electrical
consumption records following a change in provincial regulations
allowing the previously-private information to be shared.

Such details can provide crucial clues to locating indoor grow-ops,
because very large amounts of light and warmth are needed to
encourage plant growth.

Courtenay's director of regulatory and property services, Dave
Slobodan, already has details of about 100 local properties where
meter readings appear to be way above the expected levels.

More consumption figures will be supplied on a regular basis to keep
on top of the issue, he confirmed.

He stressed the readings came from properties with very high use
compared to the norm - not simply places where a thermostat might be
set a few degrees higher than usual.

He and his staff are now systematically going through the first list,
removing those addresses where they know there's a sound reason for
high energy use.

For example, a house might be known to have a swimming pool or hot
tub, or maybe there is a machine shop in an outbuilding, or perhaps
the owner has been engaged in a lot of construction or renovations
drawing on power.

Such legitimate issues are often known to council staff through
building records or simply local knowledge.

But where a good reason for high electricity use is not obvious, city
staff liaise with the RCMP and formal notice can be given that an
inspection is to be carried out.

This may show that the use is perfectly legitimate and that is the
end of the matter.

But the first direct 'hit' of a grow-op under the new initiative was
scored when inspectors discovered 450 marijuana plants being grown in
a house on Woods Avenue, Courtenay. A man has been arrested and charged.

But where a good reason for high electricity use is not obvious, city
staff liaise with the RCMP and formal notice can be given that an
inspection is to be carried out.

This may show that the use is perfectly legitimate and that is the
end of the matter.

But the first direct 'hit' of a grow-op under the new initiative was
scored when inspectors discovered 450 marijuana plants being grown in
a house on Woods Avenue, Courtenay. A man has been arrested and charged.

Several more properties are yet to be investigated, and Slobodan
hopes that as well as helping bust existing operations, the ongoing
supply of power consumption data should be a deterrent to new
grow-ops in the city.

The most senior police officer in the Comox Valley, RCMP Inspector
Tom Gray, said the initiative was "a very useful tool that really
puts people on notice regarding electrical use."

Tracking high energy consumption is only one piece of a puzzle that
can help build a clear picture of potential illegal activity, he
added, but it is an important new element in the fight against crime.

Since a similar drive was launched in Coquitlam, more than 60
grow-ops have been busted, while the City of Surrey claims a
two-thirds drop in the number of indoor marijuana operations in its area.

According to B.C. Hydro, at any given time there are about 18,000
homes in B.C. that use suspiciously large amounts if power. While
this is barely one per cent of all properties in the province, the
proportion is about three times as high as the Canadian average.