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Will
Smartmeters
crashour
economy?
Grow-ops have been an anchoring force for rural economies struggling in the wake of natural resources being removed from local communities by big governments.
Now Smartmeters - what could they be thinking?
By Don Elzer
February 10, 2012
Forget the health risks
This story is not about the health issues that smart meters might cause – it’s about smart meters and the economy - and weed, let’s call it Agricrime.
The economic impacts of regional marijuana grow-ops have been significant for the past three decades and after years of unbridled growth the industry has become mature and is far beyond the scope of resources that local law enforcement has to prevent that industry from expanding even more.
Presently, we have no idea of the social cost grow-ops have on our communities when compared to the revenue they generate, and we would rather not ask such questions.
Our discoveries may surprise us.
Not knowing the details of this underground economy means not knowing how it really impacts us today and in the future. In fact, the grow-op economy has been an anchoring force for rural communities that have been struggling in the wake of natural resources being removed from local economies by big governments.
Agriculture in BC contributes about $1.2 billion to the provinces gross domestic product every year, yet the Fraser Institute estimated that BC’s Marijuana growing industry is worth $7 billion with 17,500 grow operations, which might suggest that each operation on average is generating about $400,000 per year. Much of this industry exists either hidden indoors; or outdoors in remote rural areas.
The fringe areas around the Okanagan remain ideal growing areas, some of the best in the province. If only 10 percent of BC grow operations existed in the Okanagan, that would mean that $680 million is generated annually from marijuana grow-ops which is substantially more than the provinces wine industry.
What if, BC lost 75 percent of a $7 billion dollar industry overnight?
What if the Okanagan lost three quarters of its wine industry overnight?
One might forecast that a serious multiplier effect would occur, particularly for people and communities closest to those losses.
We might be on the verge of losing over $5 billion out of our economy, because of our own short sightedness.
The provinces major electrical utility is on record as stating, “One of BC Hydro's primary justifications for its $1-billion smart meter project is to pinpoint and prevent the $100 million in electricity the utility estimates was stolen last year by marijuana-growing operations.”
Let’s make the assumption that the more intensive grow-ops are indoors and require electricity. While some operators will generate their own electricity, others will steal the power, perhaps some will use a combination of both.
Then we would have to guess how large of a crop will be impacted by not having access to that $100 million in stolen electricity. Let’s say its 75 percent of the crop or $5.25 billion annually.
Let’s say half of that number is removed from rural economies, or $2.6 billion which might be double the size of BC’s agriculture industry.
Which begs the question….Will smart meters cause a province-wide recession in BC?
Well according to my mathematical figures – yes.
Should my mathematical figures be trusted?
No.
The reason those figures shouldn’t be trusted is because we know nothing about the grow-op economy.
In fact, messing with it probably will have even more dire consequences.
Money laundering has become an advanced science in places like the Okanagan and is now split between two agricrime communities; one that is corporate and driven by organized crime; the other being community-based and driven by independent individuals and families which operate as small businesses and within consortiums of like-minded-people.
Between these two business communities is law enforcement that does not have the capacity to deal with the magnitudes of activity and resources that agricrime will generate.
Understanding this layer of a regional economy is presently non-existent, yet the illegal revenue it produces now and into the future will allow it to purchase, ski hills, golf courses, casinos and real estate developments. As an economic unit it may very well be the largest community of capital development in the valley and perhaps province-wide. As an investment vehicle, various agricrime sources will rival multinationals within the next fifty years.
Agricrime is a product of bad planning and laws that are superficial solutions to social issues that we are presently hiding from. Now we are turning BC Hydro into a law enforcement instrument without any notion that there might be unintended consequences.
We can anticipate that if BC Hydro reduces the supply of marijuana; prices on the street will increase, controlling supply will become more competitive and territorial – and people will get hurt.
Organized crime will invest millions of dollars to figure out how to bypass a smart meter and when they do, smart meter readings will no longer present the accurate consumption picture that BC Hydro is hoping for – and the $1 billion that “we” are spending right now, will largely be a waste of money.
Unless of course you are a smart meter contractor on the receiving end of that money.
And that I suppose, might be a different kind of organized crime.
(30)
Last summer, BC Hydro began the process of replacing more than 1.8 million analog meters throughout BC with smart meters, which are capable of providing hourly information about electricity consumption. The upgrade is expected to be completed by the end of December.
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