B.C. will be increasing hydro rates for the next two years, the energy minister announced Monday, a move prompted – in part – by the “uncertainty” created by U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war.
The province is directing the BC Utilities commission to increase average annual BC Hydro rates by 3.75 percent, this year and next, starting April 1 and then again on April 1 in 2026.
The increases amount to an average of $45 extra per year for households, said Energy Minister Adrian Dix, who told reporters Monday the increases were due to inflation, drought conditions over the past couple years, the cost of the Site C dam being operational, and the need to fund more energy supplies for a growing population.
“The province is taking decisive action to provide stability and certainty with its electricity rates in these unpredictable times,” said Dix.
The NDP also points out electricity rates have lagged behind inflation in BC and, despite the increases, will still be relatively very low.
“A BC Hydro that continues to provide some of the lowest electricity rates in the world, and the third lowest electricity rates in North America,” said Dix.
BC Conservative leader John Rustad said his party is concerned that further, larger rate hikes are coming to cover the costs of Site C once it is fully up and running by the end of the year, along with nearly a dozen new energy projects, including wind, still yet to be built.
“They they have not been transparent in terms of the overall energy need that we have as a province, and how vulnerable we are to relying on power to the Americans,” Rustad told CTV on Monday.
The rate increase kicks in April 1, but it is no joke, despite it being a relatively modest increase.
The ministry will be submitting a “rate stabilization request” to the B.C. Utilities Commission to set the annual increase at 3.75 per cent, which would take effect on April 1.
