NEWS NEWS PENTICTON WESTERN PENTICTON WESTERN
PENTICTON’S GOT GAME
page 8
www.pentictonwesternnews.com
VOL. 50 ISSUE 09
FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 2016
Local biathlete aiming to do her best at the BC Winter Games
POWER LAWSUIT
staff met with representatives of the Lakeside City of Penticton inspection, sending a letter to the Lakeside management advising that the city was owed files lawsuit against PENTICTON WESTERN PENTICTON WESTERN over $600,000. “The defendant has refused to pay the Lakeside Resort amount owing,” the claim states. David Prystay, general manager at the Lakeside Resort, told the Western News it over $600,000 declining to comment as he had yet to be power bill served with any documents.
NEWS NEWS Dale Boyd
Western News Staff
The City of Penticton is suing the Lakeside Resort for back pay on the electrical utility after a faulty meter was discovered to be reporting less electricity than the resort was using since 2009. of Penticton Jan. 22, it is stated that due to the faulty meter the Lakeside Resort received approximately $631,104.93 worth of electricity after the meter was discovered to be faulty in January 2013. Two years passed before a federal investigator completed an inspection in 2015 to determine the amount of power that went unpaid. The problem originated, the claims states, in a locked metering compartment which the city would not have access to without shutting off the power to the entire resort which was partially the cause for the delay in the investigation, Penticton Mayor Andrew Jakubeit said. “For us to deal with it in 2013, basically we had to turn off the power to the whole site there and of course the Lakeside wanted to mitigate the time of year that would happen. So it was more of a timing thing of when would be the best time to turn that off and have that service interruption and we had some changeover staff,” Jakubeit said. The claim states the Lakeside informed the city that the city comptroller “pays close attention to its electricity bills. However the comptroller failed to note the drop in consumption in September of 2009 and demand in October of 2009.” “There’s no pleasant way of saying elements of this sort of fell through the cracks,” said Jakubeit. According to the statement of claim, city
The city requested a federal inspector on Feb. 7, 2013 and on the same day the inspector “informed the city it would like to conduct an inspection the day before the existing meter was repaired and the day of the repair.” The inspection wasn’t conducted until April 20 and 21, 2015. It concluded that a failure of the voltage transformer resulted in one of the two metering voltages connected to the meter was not being measured by the meter and not being measured correctly. The inspector calculated that the error in the meter was causing the demand measurement to be displayed at 50 per cent of the actual demand and the energy measurement was 30 per cent below the actual measurement. The city is bound by bylaws and the community charter not to enrich any business in the community, tying the city’s hands legally. “Hopefully the Lakeside circles back and
$600,000 is too much to just sort of forgive and say you’ve been a great corporate citizen and we’re just going to forgive it. It doesn’t work that way. Maybe if it was $6,000 we would, but not for $600,000,” Jakubeit said. “We the city, and therefore all of its residents, would have been charged the corresponding cost from Fortis to buy that and we’re just trying to protect what’s owed to the community.” Jakubeit said the city is willing to work out the payment options with the Lakeside, acknowledging that a bill over half a million dollars is a shock. “We feel we have a strong case, circumstances aside, to try to recoup some of that money and we’re willing to have some payment options or work with the client. Obviously a $600,000 bill is a surprise, but to just sort of walk away and say ‘oops,’ were not willing to do that,” Jakubeit said.
BRAVING THE ELEMENTS — Bruce Barker was among the avid kite surfers who braved the elements for a late afternoon ride on the waves at Skaha Lake this week. Strong southerly winds the last several days have made for great (but cold) conditions for those who just can’t get enough of the high octane sport.
WE JUST WANT TO SAY...
THANK YOU! Shelley Matheis Registered, Hearing Instrument Practitioner
SOUTH OKANAGAN
Mark Brett/Western News