(File photo credit: CKPGtoday.ca Staff)

By Adam Berls

hydro rate changes

BC Hydro proposed rate changes denied by utilities commission

Jun 14, 2023 | 10:33 AM

VANCOUVER — The B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC) has denied BC Hydro’s proposal for rate changes for the 2024 fiscal year.

The utilities commission denied BC Hydro’s proposal because it did not send the appropriate price signals to encourage residential customers to use electricity efficiently nor did it reflect the most appropriate distribution of costs to serve residential customers. BC Hydro bills residential customers through usage brackets, and for low-income customers that have varying energy usage, they are distributed in almost all of BC Hydro usage brackets.

The BCUC found that under the proposed rate changes, customers, including those with low-income, in the three highest energy usage brackets are impacted by annual bill increases ranging from $60 to $244, while customers in the three lowest brackets face annual increases of $6 to $22.

Under the current approved pricing principles, customers in the three highest usage segments face annual bill increases of $46 to $140, while customers in the three lowest energy usage segments would face annual bill increases ranging from $8 to $26.

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For high usage customers, the bill increase under the current approved pricing principles is $14 to $104 less than the annual increase under BC Hydro’s proposal. While customers in the three lowest usage segments do pay more, it is approximately only $2 to $5 more per year.

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Twittter: @AdamBerls

Email: Adam.Berls@pattisonmedia.com