FAQs for local governments

Our Integrated Resource Plan, which was recently approved by the B.C. Utilities Commission, lays out what load growth looks like and how we’ll supply it with clean electricity. It's designed to be flexible, preparing us for high and low load scenarios – from accelerated electrification to economic downturns.

While demand has been largely flat over the past 15 years as a result of declines in the forestry industry, traditionally one of the highest consumers of electricity in B.C., a lot has changed in the past couple of years. 

Today were seeing:

• Significant population growth;
  
• Strong economic recovery following the pandemic;
• Unprecedented potential industry demand;
  
• Changing technologies (electric vehicles, heat pumps); and,
  
• New legislation/policy from government at all levels.

And as a result, the demand for electricity is increasing. We're forecasting it could increase by 15 per cent or more by 2030. 

To meet the growing demand for electricity across B.C., we're adding Site C , which will add 8% to our current supply and provide enough clean electricity to power half a million homes or 1.7 million electric vehicles per year. Reservoir filling began in late August – one of the last steps of the project – and we expect to have the first generating unit in service by the end of the year.

We've also partnered with the Government of B.C. to launch a competitive Call for Power to acquire 3,000 gigawatt hours per year of clean and renewable electricity, like wind and solar. That's equivalent to powering 270,000 homes or adding 5% per year to our current supply.

New projects will begin generation as early as 2028, and the Call for Power will be the first in a series of calls in the coming years.

We also announced through our Energy Efficiency Plan, released in June 2024, that we’re investing over $700 million in tools, technology, programs and rebates for customers over the next three years to encourage more energy-efficient choices to support the energy transition. This investment is a 60% increase over previous budgets and will end up saving customers about $80 million each year. We expect the three-year plan to help us reach our Integrated Resource Plan energy savings targets of 2,000 gigawatt hours of electricity by 2030, which is enough to power 200,000 homes.

Additional actions we're taking to meet the growing demand including electricity purchase agreement renewals and utility-scale batteries.

The Call for Power is one of the most important initiatives we currently have underway, and it's a key step to increasing electrification across the province.

This is our first competitive call for power to acquire affordable, clean, and renewable electricity for British Columbians in more than 15 years. It will add about 3,000 gigawatt hours per year of electricity – the equivalent of about 5% of our current supply or enough to power 270,000 homes.

A key objective of the call is our commitment to exploring meaningful economic reconciliation opportunities and the requirement that all projects include First Nations ownership.

This is significant as it's the first time we have included this requirement, and projects wishing to bid into the call must have a minimum of 25% equity ownership held by one or more First Nations in whose territory the project is located (with evaluation-related credits to incentivize ownership to 51%).

We expect to award electricity purchase agreements by the end of 2024 and expect some projects to come online in fall 2028. This is expected to the be first of a series of calls in the coming years.

Every year, we create a Capital Plan that looks out 10 years. The plan quantifies the investments required to safely operate its system and meet the electricity demands of its customers.

Our 2024 10-Year Capital Plan contains $36 billion in community and regional infrastructure investments across B.C.

This new plan represents an increase of about 50% in investments over our previous capital plans, and reflects the province's growing demand for electricity over time from residential, commercial, transportation and industrial sectors.

The critical regional system investment programs and projects set out in our 10-Year Capital Plan will support electrification and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They will also address load growth and increased customer connections, and sustain and upgrade existing assets including B.C.'s valuable network of dams, transmission lines and substations.

These capital investments will provide many thousands of high-quality jobs for skilled workers, and generate economic growth for First Nations and communities all over the province.

We're committed to making connection to our system easy for customers – especially those who are looking to use more clean electricity instead of fossil fuels.

Customer connection volumes have increased by over one-third in the last four years and we’re forecasting over 18,000 new residential accounts per year over the next 10 years.

Right now, we're taking steps to ensure the grid can handle the increased distribution loads related to electrification – whether it’s from electric vehicles, heating, cooling and everything else.

We recently announced our 10-year Capital Plan, which includes more than $5 billion in grid investments to support new customer connections, particularly in high growth areas of the province.

These investments will support residential housing growth, residential electrification, electrification of transit and industrial electrification.

Under our proposed Distribution Extension Policy, we're proposing to eliminate system improvement costs for customers in most circumstances, and to increase our maximum contribution to offset extension costs. This will lower the cost of connections for many customers, and also speed up connection timelines.

We've also hired more skilled workers and streamlined processes to complete the over 35,000 connections requests we receive annually, faster.

Additionally, we're collaborating with municipalities, developers and low-income housing providers to identify opportunities for further improvement and faster connections.

Starting April 1, 2024 the residential electricity rate approved by the B.C. Utilities Commission for BC Hydro customers increased by 2.3%.

However, the B.C. Electricity Affordability Credit announced by government in February 2024 will more than offset this year's general rate increase, which is equivalent to about one-half of the credit. 

Almost all residential, commercial, and industrial customers will pay less this year than they did last year. The credit will vary based on an individual customer's annual electricity consumption. 

On average, residential households will see a total credit of about $100 over 12 months starting in April 2024. Commercial businesses and industrial customers will see a credit of 4.6% – or an average of $400 or $200,000, respectively – based on their consumption in the previous year, to help reduce rising operating costs.

On April 15, 2024, we began applying credits to eligible customers' accounts. Customers receive credits in monthly installments on each bill over the course of the year. These credits appear as line items on customer bill details after they’ve been applied. 

There's no need to apply for the credit. It will be applied automatically, and customers with more than one account will receive a credit on each account.

Our rates continue to remain among the lowest in North America, and we're committed to keeping any future rate increases below cumulative inflation.

In 2023, British Columbia experienced a historic drought and conditions in several of BC Hydro's watersheds have carried over into spring of 2024. 

While our reservoir levels improved over the winter and many were above average by early June, the near-record low provincial snowpack melt and the hotter drier weather in July made water management challenging again this summer. 

Currently, our South Coast and Vancouver Island reservoirs are mostly near-average levels for this time of the year. They're expected to drop below average as we enter fall because of low freshet inflow volume and typical dry summer weather.

Williston, Kinbasket and Arrow reservoirs remain below average and are forecasted to remain below average through the summer due to low snowpack melt contribution and the drier and hotter weather observed in June and July. 
These forecasts could become more challenging if there's an extended fall drought like last year.

We're fortunate here in B.C. that we use a hydroelectric system that's designed and operated to perform safely and reliably across a wide range of conditions and weather events, from heavy rainfall to drought. 

We've experienced low water levels in our reservoirs in the past, and while conditions are challenging, we're actively taking steps to manage our operations.

Our priority remains to provide clean, safe, reliable power to our customers, and we’re confident we'll continue to be able to so.

Importing and exporting power helps manage our system, keep rates affordable for customers, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions in other jurisdictions in North America still reliant on coal or natural gas-fired electricity. 

Over the past several months, we've been conserving water by drawing on less impacted regions and importing more power – a common activity during low water years.

As of the end of August 2024, we've imported about 8,950 gigawatt hours of electricity since January 2024. Last year, we imported about 6,200 gigawatt hours over the same period. We've imported more this year compared to last year in order to help replenish our reservoirs from last year and manage for this year's continued drought.

Over the last 15 years, we were a net importer in seven of those years and a net exporter in the other eight. Imports are part of our strategy to manage load and resource balances.

Climate change affects both the magnitude and the likelihood of significant weather events or patterns and underscores the benefits of our diverse and flexible hydroelectric system.

We're fortunate to have an integrated system across the province that allows us to diversify our storage and energy – meaning when it's dry in one region, we can ramp up operations in another. This puts us in the best possible position to respond.

While these conditions can be challenging, we're constantly adapting our methods to ensure the best possible response. We continue to take steps to improve weather and inflow forecasting, including:

• Looking at longer term (seasonal and annual) and near-term forecasts (next 14 days) when making planning decisions on reservoir management.
• Expanding our hydroclimate monitoring technology that helps improve near term and longer term forecasts. This includes custom-made solutions that have been designed in-house, as well as upgrading snow survey stations to automated, real-time snow and climate stations.
• For near term flood risk management, forecasting all coastal watersheds down to the hour, which improves the forecast accuracy for extreme events.
• Investing in capital projects – like spillway gate replacements – that will increase resiliency of the system to climate change.