BC Hydro files BCUC application for three-year rate hike
By Nelson Daily Staff
Further capital investments in power generating dams means BC Hydro needs to raise their rates.
On Tuesday the company filed with the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) a formal request to do so in a revenue requirements application [PDF, 29.9 Mb]. BC Hydro is seeking rate increases of 9.73 per cent for each of fiscal years 2012, 2013 and 2014 (cumulatively 32 per cent over the three years) – a monthly increase of approximately $7 to the average monthly residential bill for each of the next three years. An average monthly bill will rise from about $71 per month to about $94 by fiscal 2014. The most significant cost factor driving rate increases is the company’s ongoing capital investment program, said Dave Cobb, BC Hydro’s president and CEO. “Our dams, generating stations and transmission lines were built primarily between 1950 and 1980, and many of these assets are nearing their end of life,” he said. Over the next three years, BC Hydro plans to invest about $6 billion to upgrade and expand capital infrastructure province-wide to maintain the electricity supply.
The last major BC Hydro generating station to be built, Revelstoke Dam & Generating Station opened in 1985 with four of its potential six generating units in operation. To help meet growing electricity demand in the province, BC Hydro recently added a fifth turbine to the facility.
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