Silly me. If it hadn't happened right before my eyes, I'd have sworn there's no such thing as the Divine Right of Premiers.

Sure, high-school history taught us about Divine Right of Kings -- medieval doctrine that claimed the monarch is subject to no earthly authority, including the will of the people, and derived the right to rule only from the will of God.

However, the new Clean Energy Act tells me there has to be a Divine Right of Premiers -- at least in B.C.

How else do you explain the blatant power grab by Premier Gordon Campbell that permeates this proposed legislation?

His government is gutting most of the B.C. Utilities Commission's regulatory power and transferring it to cabinet, which realistically means the power is being wheeled directly into the premier's office.

Once the deed is done, the protective regulatory "firewall" that stood between B.C. Hydro and its ratepayers will have been dismantled.

That firewall meant that before Hydro could build new projects, introduce new programs or increase rates, it had to make its case before the commission.

This often involved public hearings where well-informed lawyers representing interest groups from old-age pensioners to Hydro's large industrial customers cross-examined Hydro witnesses, who were under oath.

This judicial-like review also applied when Hydro was responding to those politically-motivated winds that blow out of Victoria periodically.

Last summer, for example, an independent BCUC rejected Hydro's 2008 Long Term Acquisition Plan after finding several reasons why it wasn't in the public interest.

Several years ago, it turned down the proposed Duke Point power project on Vancouver Island for similar reasons.

Given this new legislation, however, a much larger supply of rubber stamps will be required in the commission's downtown Vancouver offices.

For the new act exempts most major B.C. power projects from the commission's traditional review. This includes more than $10 billion worth of proposed developments, including the recently announced $6.6-billion Site C hydroelectric project, the Northwest Transmission Line, additional generation units in the Mica and Revelstoke dams and the $1-billion Hydro Smart Metering and Grid Program.

Future electricity export contracts will also be exempt from BCUC review even though, as Victoria is quick to tell you, all its programs are still be subject to environmental assessments. (See "rubber stamps," above.)

Finally, this isn't the first time that BCUC's relationship with Hydro has been severed. The NDP under Glen Clark did something similar in the 1990s.

But, as then opposition leader Campbell insisted in November 2000: "It's critical that we restore the independence of the utilities commission to properly do its job on behalf of utilities and consumers alike without political interference. We intend to do that."

Oh really, Sire?

Brian Lewis, The Province's Fraser Valley columnist, previously covered energy issues for the paper for 15 years.