New West council may ask the electrical commission to find a way to give low-income customers a break on their hydro rates – but it’s a discussion for another day.
At Monday’s council meeting – it’s first since early July, council received a motion put forward by Coun. Nadine Nakagawa in response to affordability challenges being faced by some residents.
The motion recommended that the City of New Westminster ask the electrical commission to explore piloting a program to provide rates geared to income for low-income community members and to engage with city council to discuss implementation and targeting.
“I think we all know that there's members of our community who are struggling with affordability,” Nakagawa said. “Stats Canada says that economic inequality is growing at the fastest rate on record. So I think it's really important that we provide relief in a targeted way to people who may struggle to pay electrical rates.”
Nakagawa said she’s looking forward to having a conversation with the electric utility on what can be done to assist people who are struggling.
“I think this is really necessary,” she said, “and I think it's very aligned with our council's values.”
Coun. Daniel Fontaine suggested the item be deferred until the Sept. 11 council meeting as he would be proposing some amendments to Nakagawa’s motion and anticipated council would want to discuss the amendments.
The motion came before council around 11:45 p.m. – nearly six hours after the evening’s meeting began.
As it was unknown how long it would take to discuss the proposed amendments, Coun. Jaimie McEvoy said he’d support dealing with the motion at the next meeting. Mayor Patrick Johnstone said it’s unlikely the electric utility commission would have time to discuss the motion at its next electric utility meeting.
In a 4-3 vote, council supported referring deferral of the motion until the next council meeting. Nakagawa, along with councillors Ruby Campbell and Tasha Henderson, opposed Fontaine’s motion deferring the item until the next meeting, while Johnstone, McEvoy and Coun. Paul Minhas supported Fontaine’s motion to defer.
Henderson said it’s possible council will be “in the same predicament”’ at the next meeting because a number of items from council’s closed meeting and afternoon workshop had been bumped to the next meeting.
“So I'm kind of the 'let's just get er done' sentiment tonight,” she said.
In December 2022, council voted 4-2 in support of a 2.8 per cent increase to electrical rates for 2023.
