June 10, 2008 Williams Lake Tribune Editor: Re: “Privatized power is much more expensive for consumers,” May 27. An election is definitely around the corner as I see NDP MLA John Horgan misleading the public yet again on independent power production in B.C. He conveniently forgets to mention it was his own NDP government in the 1990s that allowed almost half of the current operating IPPs into B.C. while extolling their virtues. Curious how Horgan and the critics he parrots were silent then, even when BC Hydro was spending hundreds of millions of dollars purchasing power from those same IPPs? Mr. Horgan is hypocritical at best, knowing full well B.C. needs to ensure it has an affordable, reliable electricity supply over the long term to support our growing economy. Quite simply, we are consuming more electricity than we produce. It’s no surprise that it costs more to build new power sources today than it did 50 years ago — whether built by BC Hydro or independent producers. And to that end, BC Hydro plans to invest $3.4 billion in generation, transmission and distribution systems, and other facilities over the next two years alone. Mr. Horgan and his party refuse to acknowledge that huge scale of public investment and remain mired in their ideological opposition to the mere mention of the word “private”. Unlike the NDP, our government is taking a balanced approach when it comes to meeting B.C.’s electricity needs — including aggressive conservation measures, expansion of alternative energy sources and the possibility of large-scale hydro. Richard Neufeld Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources | 
