2024 Bulletin Index - January to April
We periodically post bulletins here to inform customers of developments within BC Hydro Transmission and/or the industry and/or to solicit feedback on policy changes. These announcements can be time sensitive, so please subscribe for the updates.
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Our Transmission Scheduling bulletins for 2024 are listed below. Select another year to the right to view bulletins from the archive.
View the 2024 bulletins
Business System Update - REMINDER
Posted on April 09, 4:50 p.m.
Further to the bulletin posted on April 05, 2024, BC Hydro reminds its OATT customers that it will be updating one of its business systems (MODS) in the Production environment on Wednesday, April 10 at 10:00 a.m. PPT. A one hour system outage is expected at this time. Please schedule around the outage window and contact Brenda Ambrosi at 604-312-7391 if you experience any issues.
Business System Update
Posted on April 05, 2:50 p.m.
On April 10, 2024, starting at 10:00 a.m. PPT, BC Hydro will be updating one of its business systems (MODS) in the Production environment. A one hour system outage is expected at this time. Please schedule around the outage window and contact Brenda Ambrosi at 604-312-7391 if you experience any issues.
Queue Status and Action – UPDATED
Posted on April 03, 12:51 p.m.
On March 31 at 23:40 PPT, two monthly TSRs, which were in the queue pending the processing of two Long-Term (Yearly) TSRs, were erroneously processed to REFUSED by the automated system. However, these two monthly TSRs should remain in the queued status until the two long-term TSRs are processed, including the completion of the applicable system impact studies. Consequently, we will be returning these two monthly TSRs to queued status and they will be processed after the two long-term TSRs are processed per our business practices. We have alerted our vendor about this issue and they are working on a resolution to ensure such errors do not occur in the future.
Quarterly Study Metrics Posted
Posted on April 02, 2:50 p.m.
The quarterly study metrics for January 1, 2024 to March 31, 2024 has been posted. This, and previous study metrics can be viewed at the study metrics page.
F2023-F2025 Revenue RequirementsApplication – Approved F2025 Final Rates
Posted on March 28, 2:25 p.m.
The final OATT rates for Attachment H, Schedule 00, Schedule 01 and Schedule 03 were approved by the Commission on pages 174-179. These rates are effective April 1, 2024 (F2025).
OATT Attachment M-2 Amendments Application
Posted on March 27, 4:10 p.m.
On March 1, 2024, British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority (BC Hydro) filed an Application with the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) seeking approval to amend OATT Attachment M-2; Transmission Service and Interconnection Service Procedures for Competitive Electricity Acquisition Processes (CEAPs). The proposed amendments to Attachment M-2 are in preparation for a Call for Power that was announced in 2023 and respond to feedback BC Hydro has received from customers about the timing of CEAP milestones:
https://www.bchydro.com/work-with-us/selling-clean-energy/meeting-energy-needs.html
BC Hydro’s requested amendments relate to when Interconnection Feasibility Studies must be posted publicly and are needed so that we can share important information with proponents to inform their proposals without compromising the competitive CEAP process. Other proposed amendments are housekeeping in nature and only update section number references.
BCUC has established a regulatory timetable through Order G-90-24, as follows:
Action |
Date |
BCUC Information Request (IR) No. 1 to BC Hydro |
Thursday, March 28, 2024 |
BC Hydro to provide notice of the Application and this order to Transmission Customers and CEAP interested parties |
Thursday, April 4, 2024 |
BC Hydro to provide written confirmation of notice to Transmission Customers and CEAP interested parties |
Tuesday, April 9, 2024 |
BC Hydro responses to BCUC IR No. 1 |
Tuesday, April 9, 2024 |
Letters of comment from interested parties |
Thursday, April 18, 2024 |
BC Hydro response to letters of comment (if applicable) |
Thursday, May 2, 2024 |
Further information can be found on the BCUC Proceedings website, including the Application, BCUC orders, and the Regulatory Timetable as they become available:
https://www.bcuc.com/OurWork/ViewProceeding?applicationid=1212
Extended Windows for Good Friday
Posted on March 22, 10:00 a.m.
BC Hydro is pleased to visually clarify the opening of extended windows [PDF, 61 KB] for purchasing transmission for Good Friday, March 29, 2024.
Billing of Confirmed Monthly TSR(s) after the Start Time
Posted on March 20, 10:23 a.m.
BC Hydro received a customer enquiry as to how the billing will be treated for a monthly TSR in which that TSR was confirmed during the month as well as the billing for the prior month. As such, BC Hydro has considered the question and the Settlements & Billing Business Practice is amended as follows:
If a monthly Transmission Service Request (TSR) is confirmed after the Start Time for that TSR, then:
- The Transmission Customer will not be charged for any month(s) after the Start Time but before the month in which the TSR is confirmed;
- The Transmission Customer will be charged for the entire month in which the TSR is confirmed regardless of when during the month the TSR is confirmed; and
- The Transmission Customer will be charged for all months (if any) following the month in which the TSR is confirmed until the Stop Time.
Queue Status and Action – Processing Continues
Posted on March 15, 1:00 p.m.
Further to the bulletin posted on March 14 and as a reminder, the processing of the Short-Term TSRs that were delayed in processing, by the Long-Term (Yearly) TSR, will continue today. Again, as usual, please monitor OASIS for any action that may be required of you for your TSR(s).
Queue Status and Action – FURTHER UPDATE
Posted on March 14, 2:52 p.m.
Further to the bulletin posted today, March 14, at 10:30 a.m. the Short-Term TSRs that were delayed in processing by the Long-Term (Yearly) TSR will continue to be processed tomorrow, Friday, March 15. Again, as usual, please monitor OASIS for any action that may be required of you for your TSR(s).
Queue Status and Action – UPDATED
Posted on March 14, 10:30 a.m.
Further to the bulletin dated February 21, the Long-Term (Yearly) TSR that was in STUDY Status which was delaying the processing of some of the subsequent Short-Term TSRs in the queue, will be fully processed shortly. As usual, please monitor OASIS for any action that may be required by you for your TSR(s).
Southbank Substation (SBK) Preliminary Evaluation
Posted on March 11, 3:01 p.m.
BC Hydro has completed a preliminary evaluation of the 500/230 kV transformation capacity at the Southbank Substation (SBK) based on existing loads and service requests in the transmission-service interconnection queue as of February 2024.
Based on the preliminary evaluation, upgradesto the 500/230 kV transformers are required to provide firm transmission service to customer service requests for which System Impact Studies have not yet been completed. The available non-firm transmission service capacityof the 500/230 kV transformers is approximately 150 MVA.
This information is provided for guidance only and is subject to change. Further interconnection studies may identify additional system constraints. Factors affecting available capacity include but are not limited to changes in the load forecast and interconnection queue; the location, amount, and type of load on the system; generation resource plans; etc.
System Impact Study Completed
Posted on February 29, 9:09 a.m.
BC Hydro has completed the following System Impact Study Addendum for TSR 101825966: Addendum to Report No.: Transmission Planning 2023-070 (September 2023) Long Term Point-To-Point OASIS Request AREF: 101825966 On the POWELL.RIVER to BC.US.BORDER Path October 1, 2024 to January 1, 2029
Queue Status and Action
Posted on February 21, 10:54 a.m.
Queue Status
Market Policy & Operations (MP&O) is issuing this bulletin to inform our OATT customers about why Transmission Service Requests (TSRs) are staying in QUEUED Status for longer than customers may expect.
Pursuant to section 13.2 of the OATT and as stated in section 1.0 of the Processing of Short-Term Point-To-Point Transmission Service Requests Business Practice, “Transmission Service Requests (TSRs) are received and processed according to the path and the chronological order in which they are queued in BC Hydro’s OASIS”.
Currently, as shown on the Open Access Same-time Information System (OASIS), there are Long-Term (Yearly) TSRs in STUDY and RECIEVED Status in the queue that are delaying the processing of subsequent Short-Term TSRs in the queue. Please refer to Submitting a Long-Term Transmission Service Request and Processing of Long-Term Point-to-Point Transmission Service Requests Business Practices regarding the timelines for these Long-Term TSRs to be processed.
CONFIRMED TSRs, among other things, decrease Available Transfer Capability (ATC) and the result of this calculation is posted on OASIS. However, ATC that’s posted on OASIS does not take into consideration the TSRs that are in QUEUED status, until the processing of these TSRs is complete and then, if the TSRs are CONFIRMED, ATC is decreased accordingly.
We encourage our OATT customers to review the OASIS Queue, which shows the TSRs that are in QUEUED status, and our TTC/ATC Business Practice, which explains how both Firm and Non-Firm ATC is calculated. Furthermore, our Processing of Short-Term Point-To-Point Transmission Service Requests Business Practices explains how Short-Term TSRs are processed.
Action Taken on TSRs Past their Stop Time
MP&O is actively moving TSRs, which remain in QUEUED status, and for which the Stop Time of the TSR has passed, into REFUSED status with the Provider comment: “Manually set to REFUSED due to ATC pending on higher queued and STOP time is in the past”.
Extended Windows for Presidents' Day
Posted on February 14, 3:05 p.m.
BC Hydro is pleased to visually clarify the opening of extended windows [PDF, 60 KB] for purchasing transmission for Presidents' Day, Monday, February 19, 2024.
Monthly TSRs Processing Error
Posted on January 23, 11:25 a.m.
Due to operator error on January 22nd, 2024, multiple Monthly Transmission Service Requests (TSRs) were prematurely and erroneously approved. We will be reverting all Monthly TSRs that were Queued between 2024-01-22 00:00 PPT and 2024-01-23 11:00 PPT back to their original Queued state in order for the system to process them correctly.
A reminder: there are Long Term (LT) TSRs that are currently in the queue waiting to be processed. As a result, we expect Monthly TSRs that share a segment and time period to remain in the Queued state until the LT TSRs are processed.
Amended Business Practice– Redirect of Transmission Reservation
Posted on January 11, 11:35 a.m.
BC Hydro clarified section 2.0 of the Redirect of Transmission Reservation business practice by adding 2.0 (h), such that for Redirect TSRs on a long-term basis, the ATC on the Redirected path is evaluated with execution of a System Impact Study. The updated business practice is posted on our Business Practices webpage.
Extended Windows for Martin Luther King Day
Posted on January 10, 12:22 p.m.
BC Hydro is pleased to visually clarify the opening of extended windows [PDF, 28 KB] for purchasing transmission for Martin Luther King Day, Monday January 15, 2024.
Quarterly Study Metrics Posted
Posted on January 8, 2:53 p.m.
The quarterly study metrics for October 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023 has been posted. This, and previous study metrics can be viewed at the study metrics page.