The price of gas just rose with the carbon tax increase on Canada Day and the same for the price of electrical in Grand Forks.
While many may be against rate increases in general, the reasoning behind some of the aforementioned sounds sensible at least – greenhouse gas reduction, in the case of the carbon tax. But there are some rate increases coming from some sectors that many will have a lot of problems with and that don’t seem to make sense.
On July 12, the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) announced that it had told the province’s utilities commission (BCUC) that it would file to increase basic rates by the end of the year.
Apparently, the economy is recovering faster than expected, leading to more vehicles on the road and coupled with the wetter weather, the province has been receiving, more bodily injury claims.
In a release on the ICBC website, it said that by filing with the BCUC now, it will enable the insurance corporation to “examine options to reduce a rate increase for its
customers.”
Regardless of how much the basic rate increase for the insurance company ends up being, some people may have trouble absorbing the hit, especially given what ICBC has been known to pay employees, namely its executives, in performance bonuses.
According to a news release from the Canadian Office & Professional Employees Union (COPE) from this past April, in 2009, ICBC President Jon Schubert received a $115,500 bonus, which COPE says was over one-third of his yearly salary.
The release goes on to say that ICBC’s top five ranking executives that year “made over $500,000 in bonuses.”
While ferry service isn’t really relevant to people in Grand Forks and the surrounding area, news about B.C. Ferries CEO David Hahn’s salary and pension has been garnering a lot of attention.
According to reports, Hahn’s financial take last year was in the neighbourhood of $1.1 million while his pension saw an increase of $237,000 a year recently.
Guess which corporation was reportedly going to increase its fares for some smaller routes by 37 per cent and major routes by 18 per cent by April 2012?
While you might not like it, some increases are necessary and employees deserve to be rewarded in one way or another if they meet certain goals but there is a limit.
When it comes to ICBC and B.C. Ferries, customers shouldn’t be the ones to shoulder the burden, especially when you take into account what is being doled out to executives for pension, salary and bonuses.
– The Grand Forks Gazette