HYDRO USE IN VALLEY RAISES SUSPICIONS

Signs Of Marijuana Grow Ops Are Up To Three Times Higher Than
Elsewhere

Fraser Valley residents are two to three times as likely to be using
suspiciously high amounts of electricity -- often a sign of a
marijuana-growing operation -- as those in Vancouver and Surrey,
according to internal BC Hydro records obtained by The Vancouver Sun.

Under a provincial law introduced last year, municipalities can demand
a list of all addresses with abnormally high power consumption --
making it easier for police and city inspectors to target growing operations.

In August, based on records obtained through a Freedom of Information
request, The Sun reported that BC Hydro estimated there were 17,900
such addresses in the entire province.

In November, The Sun filed another FOI request asking for the number
of high-consumption addresses in each municipality.

So far, only six municipalities have demanded that data: Abbotsford,
Chilliwack, Langley Township, Pitt Meadows, Surrey and Vancouver.

Not surprisingly, B.C.'s two largest cities also have the most
high-use homes -- 1,407 in Vancouver and 1,386 in Surrey.

But Abbotsford -- with less than one-quarter of Vancouver's population
- -- isn't far behind, with 1,063 homes.

Indeed, as a share of population, municipalities in the Fraser Valley
have far more homes with abnormally high power use.

Of the six cities, Abbotsford tops the list with 82 homes for every
10,000 residents, followed by Langley Township at 76 and Chilliwack at
74.

By comparison, Vancouver is at 24 and Surrey at 35.

Abbotsford Police spokesman Const. Casey Vinet said he didn't know why
his city has so many high-consumption addresses.

"I can't speculate on why Abbotsford would have more than other
cities," he said. "It is an interesting statistic."

Supt. Paul Nadeau, director of the RCMP's drug branch, said Hydro's
figures are consistent with a study commissioned by the Mounties in
2005 that found marijuana growing was shifting from urban to rural
areas. "There's less natural surveillance in a rural area than in a
major urban centre," he said. "You don't have your neighbours looking
over your shoulder when you've got a couple of acres."

In compiling its lists, Hydro defines abnormal consumption as any
residence that uses more than 93 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity
per day (the average home uses 31 kWh a day).

Hydro says not all high-consumption homes have growing operations --
things like heated pools, hot tubs and baseboard heating can lead to
high energy use.

But Nadeau, who until recently headed B.C.'s Coordinated Marijuana
Enforcement Team, said it's safe to assume most of the homes are
growing marijuana.

"The threshold is so, so high that, to me, it's extremely doubtful
that it's for legitimate use," he said. "I think a large majority of
them will turn out to be grow-ops."

In addition to the list of addresses, Hydro provides municipalities
with a software tool that allows them to graph the last two years of
each customer's electricity use -- allowing them, for example, to
identify consumption patterns consistent with winter baseboard heating.

Surrey Fire Chief Len Garis said an initial analysis of his city's
Hydro list suggests about one-quarter of the high-consumption homes
are legitimate users -- with the remaining three-quarters suspicious.

While police have access to Hydro's data, the information is being
used mainly by city inspectors and fire departments to shut down
growing operations' power supply for safety reasons.

Property owners must then spend tens of thousands of dollars to get
their homes renovated and inspected before the power is turned back
on.

Garis said Surrey has had to double its inspection unit -- from five
to 10 people -- to deal with the huge number of addresses on Hydro's
list.

The unit began posting inspection notices on the doors of homes on
Monday -- demanding owners allow them in to inspect their electrical
work within 48 hours or have their power shut off.

The unit hopes to inspect 120 to 150 addresses a month.

Garis said he hopes once the backlog is cleared, the bimonthly reports
from Hydro will allow cities to identify new growing operations so
quickly that they are shut down before they even harvest their first
crop.