CITY PLUGGING INTO GROW OPS

If you are using a large amount of electricity in Chilliwack the city
can now find out about it from B.C. Hydro, and they can forward the
information on to the RCMP.

But don't worry, too much is really actually way too much.

Residents could leave all their lights and appliances on 24 hours a
day and still wouldn't get flagged. Unless someone is doing something
such as, oh, say, running a marijuana grow operation they'll be fine.

And that's the point.

The Province of B.C. enacted Bill 25 in April, which is an amendment
to the Safety Standards Act and allows local governments-those that
register-to request customer records of residential properties from
B.C. Hydro and other electrical utilities.

If local authorities find high power consumption on a property they
can post a notice on the property that it will be inspected by fire
officials within 48 hours. It will serve as one of the tools that can
be used to get a search warrant for a grow-op, according to Mayor Clint Hames.

"Some members of the community might be concerned if they use too
much electricity they might get a visit from the RCMP," said Coun.
Mel Folkman at last Monday's council meeting. "We need to clarify for
the public that this is for excessive amounts of electricity consumption."

In fact, city clerk Rob Carnegie told council that the threshold set
by the province is 93 kilowatt hours (kWh) per day.

Average Canadian electricity usage is about 800 kWh per month,
according to Natural Resources Canada, which works out to about 27 kWh per day.

Coun. Sharon Gaetz pointed out that B.C. Hydro should also submit
addresses for houses that use no electricity at all, because those
could potentially be locations where a grow operation is being run
bypassing the electricity meter.

Carnegie suggested that this stipulation is not in place in the Bill,
but that Surrey and Abbotsford have registered and haven't had any
problems. Bypassing electricity meters can be very dangerous and Bill
25 is unlikely to urge those who don't already know how to do it, to
bypass their meters, Carnegie told council.