BC Hydro says the vast majority of the $616,000 worth of Olympic and Paralympic tickets it bought will be given to contest winners in its Power Smart program. (CBC)

BC Hydro is defending its decision to rent a corporate suite at GM Place and buy thousands of Olympic and Paralympic tickets, saying they are going to be used as prizes in an energy conservation program.

On Monday, NDP energy critic John Horgan accused B.C.'s Liberal government of buying the Olympic tickets "so some fat cats can sit in a luxury box watching hockey games" — as cuts were being made to funding for school sports and other programs.

Horgan raised concerns after documents revealed the Crown corporation was spending $264,000 to book a 30-seat box suite for 33 ice hockey events at GM Place in Vancouver during the 2010 Games in February.

"The government expects us to believe, and the people of British Columbia to believe, that they scoured the books for discretionary spending to cut, like high school sports, like parent advisory councils, like programs for public health, and they missed luxury boxes for hockey games," said Horgan.

Tickets for contest winners

But B.C.'s Minister of State for the Olympics, Mary McNeil, said the NDP has missed the point.

"Eighty per cent of the tickets are going as a motivation for people to join Team Power Smart to cut their energy needs by 10 per cent. I think that's a good message," said McNeil.

BC Hydro spokeswoman Susan Danard said the tickets were funded by its Power Smart program and will be distributed to both residential and business customers who have demonstrated leadership in energy conservation.

"Why we're out promoting conservation is, it actually is a savings for us in the long run," said Danard. "For every dollar we invest in Power Smart or conservation we save two and a half dollars."

On its website, BC Hydro says: "Saving energy doesn't go unnoticed. Join Team Power Smart, commit to reducing your energy consumption by 10 per cent and you'll save money while also earning a chance to win a 2010 Winter Games ticket package."

But not all the seats are going to energy savers. While the "vast majority" of the seats will be used for the Power Smart program, some of the seats will also be used to "promote business development opportunities," said Danard.

ICBC and BC Lotto also bought tickets

The B.C. government responded to the NDP's questions by releasing the details of Olympic ticket purchases by BC Hydro and two other Crown corporations: the BC Lottery Corporation and the Insurance Corporation of B.C.

• Altogether, BC Hydro, ICBC and the BC Lottery Corporation bought roughly $1.4 million worth of Olympic tickets, according to a statement released on Monday afternoon.
• BC Hydro purchased a total of 2,036 Olympic and 896 Paralympic tickets, including the 660 box suite tickets, for a total cost of about $616,000.
• BC Lotto purchased a total of 1,397 tickets for both Games, for a total cost of about $396,000, to be used for incentive programs for its retailers and suppliers.
• ICBC purchased 2,108 Olympic tickets and 400 Paralympic tickets for a total cost of about $405,000, with 85 per cent going to brokers, collision repair shops, and suppliers, and the rest to staff to host business partners.

ICBC said its tickets were bought using funding from the sale of optional insurance coverage, and no funds from the sale of basic insurance were used.