Thursday, March 28, 2024

BC Hydro rates will increase by 1.8% starting Monday

Share

BC residents should brace for another BC Hydro rate increase this year.

Starting April 1st, customers will see an increase of 1.8% to their bills. This works out to be about $1.63/month for residential customers.

See also:

The increase was approved by the B.C. Utilities Commission, and residents of the province can expect to pay over 8% more on their Hydro bills over the next five years.

These price hikes were announced after a new report commissioned by the NDP found that BC’s previous Liberal government forced BC Hydro to sign contracts with independent power producers (IPPs) that will cost customers $16 billion over the next two decades.

The report “details how the previous government manufactured an urgent need for power while disallowing BC Hydro to produce it, therefore requiring the public utility to buy power from private producers at inflated prices,” says the ministry.

105 contracts were signed with IPPs since 2002, and 71 of them are “run-of-river projects” that are only reliable during the spring freshet (when snow and ice is thawing).

The report detailed that BC Hydro does not need more power during this season, as demand is lower and BC Hydro Reservoirs are largely full.

The Crown utility proposed a 50% increase in spending on residential conservation programs in order to help customers save money.

This would include revised criteria for low income programs to increase participation, additional incentives for homeowners looking to make energy-efficient improvements and a new program for customers in communities outside of BC Hydro’s integrated system.

mm
Brishti Basu
Former Senior Staff Writer and Content Manager at Victoria Buzz.

Read more

Latest Stories