When Delta school trustees peer into the future and find a million-dollar hole in the district’s budget, they’ll only have themselves, or their predecessors, to blame.
It’s no secret the thermal energy deal the Delta School District struck with FortisBC earlier this decade has since gone south, but the recent decision rendered by the B.C. Utilities Commission raises a troubling question over the lack of safeguards put in place to protect the public purse.
It appears district officials were gung ho to jump on the thermal energy bandwagon, believing what they were doing would be beneficial for both the environment and the bottom line. I’m certain the decision to convert 19 sites in the district was done with the best of intentions, but it has created financial repercussions that will reverberate all the way back to the classroom.
Far fewer jumped on the bandwagon which means FortisBC is now looking to charge the district a higher rate, one that would add about $1 million to the district’s energy bill annually, as well as recoup an original $4 million investment.
I recognize that back in 2011 when this agreement was initiated the district would have had no way of knowing how many others would jump on board to share in the costs, and more than likely got caught up in the hype surrounding thermal energy. However, some form of safeguard should have been included in the contract to ensure that if those other users didn’t materialize, the district wouldn’t be on the hook.
The school district argued in the most recent proceedings before the utilities commission that it wasn’t contractually obligated to switch rates unless such a change benefitted it financially, an assertion the commission rejected. How could district officials not understand such a key part of the deal? How could they leave the district so vulnerable?
Several are no longer part of the district and those that are remain tight lipped, but what we do know is this is going to have a negative effect on Delta students for the next 15 years. The district’s legal counsel tried to play that card with the utilities commission, calling the additional costs a “very significant” impact, but sympathy wasn’t able to overturn a bad deal.
