BC Hydro announces over $5 billion investment and policy changes for new housing developments

VANCOUVER, B.C. — BC Hydro has announced its plan to invest $5.3 billion and revise outdated policies to make B.C. homes more affordable. 

In a BC Hydro press release on Tuesday, the company said that they will support constructing new housing developments in growing communities and reduce the costs of new customer connections to their electricity grid.

BC Hydro President and CEO Chris O’Riley says the company has listened carefully to its customers and stakeholders and proposed changes based on their input.

“As our population grows, so does the need for more housing and we’ve seen customer connection requests increase by more than one-third in recent years,” said O’Riley.

“This includes updates that will provide greater cost certainty for customers, encourage larger multi-unit developments, support investments in affordable housing, and encourage electrification to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

The investment will be done through a 10-year capital plan and includes building over 50 new distribution feeders that supply over 200,000 new homes. 

Other investment highlights include building over 250 kilometres of new underground distribution infrastructure and upgrading 14 substations that add 24,000 megawatts of power capacity.

The release says municipalities, home builders, and other stakeholders have been advocating for changes in recent years that would reduce costs and improve predictability. 

“Under the current policy, new or upgraded connections that require system upgrades must be completely paid for upfront by the initial customer that makes the request,” said the release. 

Ravi Kahlon, B.C.’s Minister of Housing says they are taking an “all-hands-on-deck” approach to delivering affordable homes for B.C. residents.

“The changes BC Hydro is making to streamline new connections to the grid, and the work it is doing with local governments to explore ways to improve timelines on building infrastructure will speed up housing developments, reduce building costs, and get people into homes faster,” said Kahlon.

To meet growing demand, BC Hydro filed an application with the BC Utilities Commission on June 27th, 2024, to update its distribution extension policy, which has not been changed since 2008.

According to the release, the policy determines how costs are allocated between new and existing customers for upgraded connections to BC Hydro’s system.

The release says the updated policy would eliminate system improvement costs for all new customers, except in extraordinary circumstances.

The proposed policy updates were based on 18 months of extensive customer and stakeholder engagement with BC Housing, municipalities, development associations, and individual developers. 

A decision is expected in 2025, but the changes need to be approved by the commission through a public process.

Josie Osborne, British Columbia’s Minister of Energy, Mines, and Low Carbon Innovation, says the province is taking action to make it easier for homes and businesses to connect to clean electricity while reducing costs.

“As communities across B.C. grow, so does the need for essential housing. We are committed to ensuring we’re ready to meet this growing demand for clean power, getting power to where it’s needed, when it’s needed,” said Osborne.