Current rate design activities
There are a variety of ways you can participate in our rate design process. Check out the current activities below to see if you're interested.
Ongoing activities
We're exploring new optional residential service rates. These proposed rates are being designed to provide our residential customers with bill savings opportunities and rate options that may better meet their individual needs.
We're exploring new optional transmission service rates for our largest industrial customers, including time-varying rates and non-firm, market-based rates. These proposed rates are primarily being designed to provide customers with bill savings and capacity savings during the winter months when electricity demand is the highest.
We're exploring new optional small general service rates. These proposed rates are being designed to provide our small commercial customers with bill savings opportunities and rate options that may better meet their individual needs.
BC Hydro hosted a workshop in January 2025 to keep interested parties and transmission customers informed of potential market design changes and policies in Alberta that affect the commercial use and availability of the BC-Alberta intertie.
These initiatives affect BC Hydro’s transmission customers under BC Hydro’s Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT), who use the BC-Alberta intertie. Actions taken by the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) may have impacts on our customers.
Recent submissions
With your input, we recently undertook rate design processes for the rates below and submitted them to our regulator, the B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC).
The proposed changes to our net metering service rates are now being reviewed by the B.C. Utilities Commission, and if approved, they’ll take effect on April 1, 2026.
The proposal includes:
- New self-generation service rate: Customers would be able to build systems big enough to meet their own energy needs. If they generate more than they use, they can send up to 100 kW per phase back to the grid and earn 10 cents per kWh.
- Net metering service rate changes: The current net metering service rate would close to new customers once the new rate starts. If you're already on the net metering service rate, you can stay on it for 20 years from when you started the rate. If you received a solar rebate, you would be moved to the new rate (Rate Schedule 2289) when it begins. If not, you may stay on the current rate if you choose to.
- Community generation service rate: This would be a new service that would allow a community generator to operate a shared generating facility that multiple customers, known as benefitting customers, could subscribe to and benefit from in the form of bill credits. Community generators could have a generating facility up to 1 MW and would earn 10 cents per kWh for any energy they returned to the grid.
We expect the BCUC to render its decision in early 2026 and expect the new rates, if approved, to be effective on April 1, 2026.
Visit the BCUC's website to learn more about our 2025 net metering application.
On March 5, 2025, the BCUC approved our application to update our Distribution Extension Policy, which sets out how costs are allocated between customers for new or upgraded connections to our system.
The updates include:
- Reducing the requirement for customers to pay for improvements to our system, except in extraordinary circumstances.
- Increasing our contribution to cover the cost of a system extension to help reduce the cost to a customer.
- Updating our standard service connection and metering charges to reflect current processes and costs.
- Increasing the extension fee refund period and automating the refund process.
These changes are designed to help reduce the cost of connections for many customers.
Visit the BCUC's website to learn more about our distribution extension policy application.
On February 24, 2025, the BCUC approved our rate design application for updates to our residential service rates, non-integrated area rates, and the Electric Tariff Terms and Conditions.
Here's a summary of the proposed changes:
Residential rates:
- Introduce an additional optional rate that would have one price for electricity per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and no tiered threshold. We’d continue to offer the current tiered rate and optional tiered rate with time-of-day pricing.
- Reduce our current basic charge for multi-unit residential buildings receiving electricity service through one BC Hydro account. The basic charge is included on each residential and commercial customer bill and is used to partially recover the fixed customer-related costs of service, such as metering and billing.
Non-integrated area rates:
- Offer residential and commercial customers living in areas not connected to BC Hydro’s grid the same rate options we offer customers who are connected to our grid.
Electric Tariff updates:
- Various updates to our Electric Tariff Terms and Conditions to improve the customer experience and reflect current processes and costs.
Visit the BCUC's website to learn more about our 2024 rate design application.