BEFORE YOU PANIC, REMEMBER HYDRO'S GUESSTIMATES

Re: BC Hydro: 18,000 grow-ops suspected, Aug. 31

The Sun's front-page exclusive has me worried. Am I a suspect?

Our average daily consumption is more than 93 kwh for most of the
winter. That's because we do not have natural gas or oil. We use
baseboard heaters. When we are feeling really festive, we use an open
hearth log fire, which makes a mess, smells nice, looks pretty and
sends nearly all the heat up the chimney.

But my real worry is the same set of consumption records shows that
in July our consumption actually increased. Last year it was less
than 10 kwh, this year more than 60! It is the record itself which I
distrust; in reality, power consumption was probably the same. But we
will never know because BC Hydro admitted that it "estimated" my
meter reading and the records would even out over the months when its
workers actually read the meter.

Stephen Rees

Richmond