Login / RegisterOlympic Village tenants decry excessive energy bills
The group managing two City of Vancouver–owned housing properties at the Olympic Village is hearing complaints from residents about excessive energy bills.
Thom Armstrong, executive director of the COHO Management Services Society, admitted that his group also wants some answers.
“As to the level of the invoices, we have some questions about that ourselves,” Armstrong told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview.
Unlike many residents outside the Olympic Village, which has been touted as a model of a sustainable neighbourhood, residents of the Southeast False Creek development are charged two bills for energy.
One is for electricity consumption, and this bill comes from B.C. Hydro. Then there’s a bill from Enerpro Systems Corp., a North Vancouver–based company. According to information that Enerpro put out about its billing, the charges cover “heating, cooling, hot water, and cold water”.
According to Enerpro, the charges are based on in-suite consumption monitored through individual meters it has installed.
Geoff Mulligan, Enerpro’s vice-president for internal operations, said that he cannot directly comment on claims that his company’s bills are too high. The Straight obtained an Enerpro billing for one of these buildings, but no resident is willing to speak to the media regarding their concerns, for fear of being evicted.
“The one I can say is that I think this is a very brand-new system,” Mulligan told the Straight in a phone interview, referring to the energy meters. “People are used to paying, you know, maybe just a gas bill if they’re in a house. But nobody has ever seen hot water–specific bills, heating-specific bills, especially in a multifamily residential building, because that’s a cost”¦absorbed within all the rents. So I don’t know how they’re making that comparison or being able to make that justification that they’re too high.”
It was Mulligan who responded to a call from the Georgia Straight to Enerpro CEO David Van Seters, who also happens to be the founder of Small Potatoes Urban Delivery, a grocery-delivery business promoting organic food. Van Seters’s SPUD was supported financially during its infancy by the investment firm Renewal Partners, whose president is Joel Solomon, a backer of Mayor Gregor Robertson.
According to Armstrong, COHO contracted Enerpro on behalf of the city.
COHO manages 101 units of mixed-market and affordable rental housing in one building at 122 Walter Hardwick Avenue.
It is also in charge of 67 units of market and affordable rental housing at 80 Walter Hardwick Avenue. This particular building has been lionized as a “net zero building” because it was designed to produce as much energy as it consumes.
According to Enerpro’s information material, energy rates for its billings are set by the city-owned Southeast False Creek Neighbourhood Energy Utility, which generates heat from waste, and B.C. Hydro. Armstrong said that heating for the Olympic Village comes from the neighbourhood energy utility. As for the cold water, he said, it comes from the “city’s fresh-water supply”.
According to Armstrong, Enerpro charges a flat monthly administrative fee of $12.50 for each billing, with the rest going to the City of Vancouver.
The city’s communications department did not provide a city staff representative for interview before deadline.
According to Armstrong, COHO is “seriously” considering questions from residents about the charges.
“The promise that we made to the tenants was that we would do everything we could to gather the facts, because at this point when a tenant says, ”˜I think my bill is too high,’ there could be any number of explanations, right?” Armstrong said. “I mean, one could be they’re using maybe”¦more energy. Maybe the equipment is not reading the consumption properly or maybe the metering system is not calibrated properly. We could probably imagine five or six different explanations, but we don’t know.”
Armstrong said that COHO is calling for a meeting with city engineers and Enerpro staff to sort out energy billings.
In the meantime, residents of the two city-owned housing properties who have concerns about the charges have been told not to pay for now, according to Armstrong.
“If it does turn out, say, that there is an inaccurate reading, we don’t want somebody to pay for energy they haven’t used,” Armstrong said. “I still very much support the notion of individual energy metering, because that’s the only way to create any incentive to lower energy use and lower the carbon footprint. So I think, on principle, it’s what we want to do. We just want to make sure that the system is working the way it should be.”
the city of Vancouver website they state clearly that they have spent over 6 million dollars on solar panels so that they can create affordable housing for seniors and that the building (80 walter hardwick) is a net=zero building and makes all of its own energy. It is thought someone (the city?) is selling all this energy to BC Hydro and then double charging the senior tenants. this is shameful and very stressful to most residents as we al read about this net/zero and were never told we would have to pay for cold and hot water. It should be pointed out that there have been several different stories from Coho and the city. Originally we were told Enerpro was a large energy company servicing all of western canada then we found out it was nothing more than a small billing company in N Vancouver. We have not even had one window washing (and the windows are filthy) and Coho is charging tenants large amounts of money to use the building Lounge area or putting large deposits to use it where the city said we should be able to use it free of charge. Many seniors and recovering addicts sit in their apartments alone with no social contacts and have no opportunities to build up their social contacts at this building. the weeds throughout the building in front of every unit are waist high and many tenants feel there have been a lot of things that have been said to tenants by Coho that were clearly untrue. It's hard to understand that this building is a showcase of sustainable;affordable housing and affordable housing for seniors where in fact someone is stealing this energy and selling it and then turning around and giving the tenants two overpriced bills when in fact they should be getting none!
This is what the landlord tenancy branch has become under the neoFascist Dick Coleman - a star chamber where the tenant goes to have the landlord's case read back to them, their bleating of protest ignored and sentence to summary eviction meted out.
"First they came for the Communists ..." is repeating itself in Canada and BC and the stupefied morons that are the electorate are too busy watching sports and Dancing with the Stars on their Big Screen Teevees from the Walmart to pay any attention.
People that refuse to fight for their freedom generally lose it.
seth
Cry me a river.
Water meters are just the first step in an attempt to privatize water in B.C. Once that is done they can sell the companies to foreign companies.
Of course electricity rates are going up. some one has to pay for all those run of the river projects campbell gave his buddies and he's in London so does he care......
A lot of these energy/green technologies are actually less enviornmental than current/old techologies. First they use natural resources to build the meters, use oil to ship them because they are coming from other countries; then they rip out working systems--which uses energy and then they dump it all in the waste system.
We more than likely use twice the energy to set up these "new" systems than to keep the old ones.
What the new metering systems are for is to enable corporations to charge for things we never had to pay for originally. It was part of our birthright as Canadians.
While Harper is trying to negotiate more free trade agreements he is ensuring corporations will make more money and Canadians will pay more for their own resources. These free trade agreements will not provide more jobs for Canada, just more money for the multi national corporations stock holders and CEOs.
The situation at the Olympic village is just the beginning of what we will all face within the next 5 to 10 yrs.
The same spaced out entitled socialists of Vancouver who are now bitching are the same ones who begged for this, so don't start complaining about your "freedom" this late in the ball game. Cheer up comrades, and enjoy your centrally planned leaky utopian waterfront projects.
This is what happens when the government gets involved in housing. Everyone gets screwed and the bureaucrats and crony executives walk away with ALL THE CASH.
I can tell you..that these condos (management) waste too much money..
First off..I have NEVER turned on the thermostat all winter..because the Condo it self is sooooo flipping hot in the
hallways it heats everything almost to the point I leave the windows open year round just to be comfortable..(even in January)..
I agree with one other commentor that the windows haven't been washer for over a year...yet the plants (garden) are watered (automated) for several hours EVERY evening..I hear the water running EVEN when its raining out...yet no one else seems to care about the waste. they are more concerned about WHO parked in visitors parking overnight Without consent from the strata..omg..give me a break. having someone parked over night caused me nothing...having water run excessively and heat turned up (in the common areas) to over 80 degree..cost me soooooooo much more...condo life is NOT for me.
As more an more politicians and planners consider whether they should be copying the 'world class' sustainability features of the Olympic Village, I think it's important that the truth re: performance be told. My understanding is that the elaborate water recycling system is not currently functioning and other features need fixing. That being said, if you can get the right unit plan at the right price, this could be a very good place to live.
I just hope the energy situation in the rental housing is sorted out quickly since the last I heard, the city was loosing hundreds of thousands per month from empty units. Have they now been filled up?