New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Please see below for helpful posts, guidelines, and related subreddits. The next candidate who promises to cut taxes will get my votes. Hydro and resells it to New Westminster residents and businesses. So would you are saying is that I should double down and really try to get a job for the city...? The city’s electrical utility buys electricity from B.C. Meanwhile, the residents who are expected to pay these increased rates earn only $55,000 on average. Press J to jump to the feed. According to the article, Coun. Currently, our electric … Now, the average salary of the 225 city employees is $108,000, excluding benefits, and the fire department alone has at least six employees with salaries over $150,000. Just how much electricity do you use??? The average residential electricity rate in Westminster is 11.66¢/kWh. My electricity bill literally quadruples during winter after the heat is turned on, and we're still cold. Welcome to /r/NewWest! While the city is anticipating B.C. Sadly we live in a city where voters insist on never having any checks or balances on the NDP monopoly, so this is what you get. If they need cash for infrastructure it should be coming out of that profit, not a rate increase that puts new west residents at a cost disadvantage or our surrounding neighbours that use BCHydro.. From this, I infer that if they use electric utility profits for infrastructure, then taxes would have to go up. I would personally be really pissed off if they began charging NW more for electricity. Cookies help us deliver our Services. New Westminster approves hikes to utilities for 2019 – and ponders change to electric utility rates The city electrical utility MAKES PROFIT EVERY YEAR. If someone promises to ditch new west power they'll have my vote. New West wants to restrict rental property owners from improving their buildings (ok, they can but they are not allowed to charge more rent). Agreed. The article fails to specify a time frame when it mentions that the average single family house would see an increase of $57, but a quick bit of comparison to the approx $12 per year I pay for my 1 bedroom apartment would see suggest that $57 is also per year. I won't comment on the electricity rates, because that was sent back for review, but does anyone else think that annual increases in water, sewer and solid waste rates of 7-12% are outrageous, given that inflation is running at 2-3%? I’m not referring to cutting taxes blindly, but someone who would work on improving government efficiency, spending less and more strategically, creating revenue streams that are more fair than taxing its own residence, etc. It would be a strong motivation to move out of NW, for sure. And we get absolutely terrible service for that extra cost. In the 1970′s, the Commission joined with other municipal utilities through the Piedmont Municipal Power Agency to purchase 25 percent of a reactor at the Catawba Nuclear Power Plant. The first one is up now. Ugh. And these increases are projected to be an annual thing for at least the next five years! New Westminster is a historically important city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and is a member municipality of the Greater Vancouver Regional District. Patrick Johnstone is quoted as saying: "we make a profit every year and that helps offset taxes for the residents of the city.". Notice that "annual wage increments" is mentioned as a significant component of the increases. The average (residential) electricity rate in Westminster is 1.85% less than the national average rate of 11.88¢/kWh. We already pay about 25% more than the BC Hydro public electricity rates. https://patrickjohnstone.ca/2018/11/council-nov-19-2018.html. Call in the event of a electric disruption or problems of electric … Westminster Commission of Public Works (CPW) began providing electric service in the City of Westminster in the 1920's. Residential rates … Don't get me wrong, I am an advocate of paying livable wages, but with these kind of numbers it is hard not to see the utility increases as a further cash grab by already very well compensated city employees. On the one hand you have a provincial government telling landlords not to increase rent more than inflation while they and municipalities ratchet up costs by 2-3x that rate. By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. https://patrickjohnstone.ca/2018/11/council-nov-19-2018.html has a bunch of details on why it's over CPI. I am working on a few Blog posts to give some background here. The Electricity price comparison chart shows that price for Electricity (per 1 kWh) in New Westminster is 18.28 % lower than the same Electricity price in Yellowknife, Canada. This average (residential) electricity rate in Westminster is 0.93% less than the South Carolina average rate of 11.77¢/kWh. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. New Westminster Utilities Department (New Westminster Electrical Department) is the main electricity provider in New Westminster (Zipcode: V3L), British Columbia, that gives service to its habitants.