{"id":4898,"date":"2014-11-27T02:05:41","date_gmt":"2014-11-27T09:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=4898"},"modified":"2014-11-27T02:05:41","modified_gmt":"2014-11-27T09:05:41","slug":"bc-hydro-cuts-off-power-to-home-of-defiant-senior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=4898","title":{"rendered":"BC Hydro cuts off power to home of defiant senior"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>by\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.comoxvalleyrecord.com\/staff_profiles\/25608509.html\">Erin Haluschak &#8211; Comox Valley Record<\/a><\/li>\n<li>posted\u00a0Nov 3, 2014\u00a0at\u00a08:00 PM<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"storyBody\">\n<div id=\"storyFeaturedPhoto\">Rotraut Knopp lights candles in her Ships Point home Friday, after power was cut off following her refusal to pay a monthly legacy fee to BC Hydro to retain her analog meter.<\/div>\n<p>Rotraut Knopp has extra oil for her lamps on hand, an assortment of candles in her kitchen, and a Coleman stove on the porch of her Ships Point home.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s preparing to go \u2018off-grid\u2019 for an indefinite period of time \u2014 not by choice, she said, rather because BC Hydro cut off power to her trailer Oct. 30 after Knopp stopped paying her monthly legacy meter fee for her analog meter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI went out in the morning and when I came back I saw a little tag on the meter and I didn\u2019t see it running so I went in and right away I knew if it wasn\u2019t going, the power was out,\u201d the 71-year-old explained Friday. \u201cPower was out absolutely everywhere. And this morning I found out because of the digital phone I don\u2019t even have the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Knopp said because of health implications, she refused to have a smart meter installed, and has been paying the usage portion of her hydro bill, but refuses the monthly fee.<\/p>\n<p>In April, the B.C. Utilities Commission approved BC Hydro\u2019s request for a monthly charge of around $30 for reading an analog meter and administration fees.<\/p>\n<p>Knopp said she owes more than $150 in fees, but the idea of paying to restore the service or installing a smart meter is not an option.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me, it\u2019s pushing something through,\u201d said Knopp.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s only a money maker. I know that all these meter readers lost their jobs, and that reeks of money.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She noted she\u2019s affected by the electromagnetic waves of smart meters. BC Hydro notes on their website their smart meters do use low level radio frequency signals, but add the province\u2019s health authorities confirm smart meters pose no known health risk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t like my health affected. My health is all I have. It\u2019s what I have. The old meter worked just fine, there was no problems there,\u201d she said. \u201cMy nerves are rattled. My blood pressure has gone up. It\u2019s subtle things; my body can\u2019t take it \u2026 I know people don\u2019t understand these things unless they have it themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ted Olynyk, BC Hydro\u2019s manager of community relations for Vancouver Island, said while the company has provided Knopp with 10 notices since June, disconnection is a last resort for any customer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe make a lot of effort to work with the customer to make arrangements for them to pay their bill or to arrange a (payment) schedule,\u201d he noted. \u201cBut the rest of us are expected to pay our bill \u2026 all of our customers are treated equally. If you buy gas or go to a restaurant \u2013 it\u2019s the same. Your bill must be paid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olynyk explained BC Hydro does have a \u2018moratorium period\u2019 where the company will not disconnect service to a customer during the winter months despite bills in arrears due to the drop in temperatures and an increased reliance on hydro.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2018moratorium period\u2019 runs from November to March, he noted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring that time, we still work with the customer to arrange payment,\u201d Olynyk added.<\/p>\n<p>As the first customer in the Comox Valley to have her analog meter disconnected for not paying the legacy fee, Knopp said she is relying on the kindness of her neighbours.<\/p>\n<p>Some of her frozen food is being kept in her neighbour\u2019s freezer, and some in coolers.<\/p>\n<p>Knopp added she has lived on Hornby Island for 16 years, where during the winter months, power outages were frequent, and she learned to live without electricity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have oil lamps and I have candles. I can go over and cook with the neighbours and I have a Coleman stove too. It\u2019s more complicated and time consuming,\u201d she admitted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m glad they\u2019re around. I\u2019ll just have to put up with it or move out \u2026 move in with some neighbours or something like that. We\u2019ll see what comes up. My house is warm and I have water so it\u2019s just some cooking and the lights. If you have lived after the war, you know what it is like. And it is war.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olynyk said if Knopp decides to switch over to a smart meter, there will be no charge if she accepts a new meter.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the inconveniences of living without hydro, Knopp explained she will not be forced by the corporation to accept paying the legacy fee or a smart meter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t see why I should pay. I have something about forcing people. It\u2019s just because my history in Germany; everybody knows that history. Force, encourage, it\u2019s just something I have something against. It just rubs me the wrong way,\u201d she said holding back tears.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really don\u2019t like when something (is) pushed down your throat. I don\u2019t like it. They don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing \u2026 if they don\u2019t mind to cut off power to a 71-year-old woman, that is on their conscience.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>http:\/\/www.comoxvalleyrecord.com\/news\/281370531.html?fb_action_ids=10204416863814921&#038;fb_action_types=og.comments<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0\u00a0Erin Haluschak &#8211; Comox Valley Record posted\u00a0Nov 3, 2014\u00a0at\u00a08:00 PM Rotraut Knopp lights candles in her Ships Point home Friday, after power was cut off following her refusal to pay a monthly legacy fee to BC Hydro to retain her analog meter. Rotraut Knopp has extra oil for her lamps on hand, an assortment of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,201,18,200],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bchydro","category-cut-power","category-smart-meter","category-ted-olynyk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4898"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4899,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4898\/revisions\/4899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}