BC Hydro customers will feel a dual shock to their bills starting in April, as the provincial government sets rates 3.75 per cent higher removes a $100 annual affordability credit.
Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions Adrain Dix announced Monday that rates will increase 3.75 per cent in each of the next two years, commencing April 1.
Meanwhile, BIV confirmed with the ministry that the B.C. Electricity Affordability Credit, put in place on April 15, 2024, will also expire next month.
Dix said the 3.75 per cent increase amounts to $45 annually for the average residential customer.
The $100 credit, meanwhile, amounted to about an 8.3 per cent reduction on average for the same residential customer.
But the average customer can now expect to see a cumulative increase of about 12 per cent for electricity charges after April 15, when the credit expires two weeks after the 3.75 per cent hike goes into effect.
The ministry said it was always the government’s intention to have the credit be a one-time reprieve.
Dix stated that BC Hydro has “among the lowest electricity rates in North America and cumulative rate increases between 2017-18 and 2026-27 will be 12.4 per cent below cumulative inflation.”
Dix’s directive overrides the BC Utilities Commission, the regulator that is supposed to set BC Hydro rates.
The two annual increases are said to be needed to support the Site C hydroelectric dam coming into service and a $36-billion, 10-year capital plan to expand infrastructure
Meanwhile, BC Hydro's separate Customer Crisis Fund is expected to help approximately 4,700 households in financial crisis between now and April 2026.
The Crown corporation served 1.93 million residential households in 2023.
