British Columbians will paying more to keep the lights on in their homes.
Average residential households will pay an extra combined total of $90 over the next two years as BC Hydro has asked B.C. Utilities Commission for an annual average rate increase at 3.75 per cent for the next two years.
B.C.'s Energy Minister Adrian Dix announced the increase in Vancouver, where Chris O Riley, BC Hydro president and chief executive officer, joined him.
The ministry said in its statement announcing the increase that the increase reflects what it calls rising operating costs caused by inflation; Site C coming online and critical work required to significantly invest in B.C.'s energy supply and infrastructure to bolster the provincial economy in the face of tariffs.
The increase will come into effect on April 1, which would have been the date of a scheduled now foregone increase in the carbon tax following developments last week. Premier David Eby said B.C. would eliminate the carbon through legislation and accordingly forego the scheduled increase.
When asked about the message of raising hydro rates on the same day as foregoing the increase, Dix pointed to B.C.'s hydro rates relative to other jurisdictions.
He said B.C. has the third-lowest electricity rates in all of North America, adding that they will remain among the lowest. He added that they are 12 per cent below the cumulative rate of inflation since 2017 when the B.C. NDP assumed office.
"At the same time, we are making very significant investments in our province that will unlock economic development in the Northwest, investments that...will ensure our systems are in place to serve literally hundreds of thousands of new customers that have come in the last three years alone," he said. "What people want in the face of really considerable threats and attacks from the United States, is a strong BC Hydro that can serve people in the future and that is what this change does."
Last year's increase was 2.3 per cent and two per cent in 2023. Rates dropped 1.4 per cent in 2022.
"People will recall...this was a very difficult period in British Columbia and BC Hydro stepped up by essentially having the lowest rate increases in North America," Dix said. "BC Hydro really stepped up in this time (and) we have to build for the future. (That) means we have to get BC Hydro the resources to build for the future. That means, of course, bringing on Site C, but it also means bringing on more electricity, more renewable energy in our province."
Barry Penner, a B.C. former environment minister and current chair of the Energy Futures Institute, said the rate increases do not surprise him, given electricity imports and the financial state of BC Hydro. Citing the latest available filings, BC Hydro spent $1.4 billion for imports in fall 2024, while missing its targets for revenues from exports, Penner said.
Penner also pointed to the mixed messages that government is sending.
"The cost of electricity will be going up at the same time as the cost of natural gas will be going down with the end of the carbon tax," he said. "By getting rid of the carbon tax, there will be very significant decrease in the price that people pay for natural gas for their home and to put fuel in their vehicles, but that financial benefit will be partially offset if the government keeps forcing people to use more electricity instead of natural gas for home-heating and more electricity for their electric vehicles to maintain these unrealistic electric-vehicle mandates."
Penner also questioned the process of the increase done through an order-in-council to the commission. "BCUC is really not supposed to ask many questions," Penner said. "They are supposed to rubber-stamp this 3.75 per cent rate increase within 10 days without determining whether it is adequate or too much."
Dix said during he has a lot of faith in the commission. "They are going to continue to do their work, but for the next few years, I don't think we need a 12-to-18 month hearing on this," Dix said. "We need BC Hydro to go out and support, protect and strengthen B.C. and that is exactly what they are going to do. We are going to have more to say about that in the coming weeks."
More to come.
