British Columbia's main power company is applying for a reduction in the rate it charges for electricity.
If approved by the B.C. Utilities Commission, the rate reduction would take effect in April 2020, with customers paying roughly one per cent less on their bills from that date onward.
In a release, the Crown corporation said its request for a decrease in rates is based on updated, audited financial information and its latest financial forecast. The company had previously planned to increase rates by 0.7 per cent starting in April 2020.
In a separate release, Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Michelle Mungall said she is "thrilled" that BC Hydro is applying for a rate reduction.
"If approved by our independent regulator, lower rates would make life better and more affordable for British Columbians," Mungall said.
Mungall also said the rate reduction is the first one BC Hydro has applied for "in decades."
This seems to have been an understatement. CTV News Vancouver reached out to both the ministry and the corporation in an effort to determine the last time BC Hydro reduced its rates.
BC Hydro spokesperson Susie Rieder said this is the first time the company has ever applied to the BCUC for a rate reduction.
"Our customers have had net bill decreases in the past as a result of other factors," Rieder said.
A ministry spokesperson was also unaware of previous instances of BC Hydro reducing the amount it charges customers.
The lower rates "build on the results" of phase one of the provincial government's comprehensive review of BC Hydro, which was completed in February, the ministry said in its release.
Among the results of the review are several actions the government says are intended to keep electricity rates affordable for customers by cutting costs and expanding oversight of BC Hydro by the BCUC.
The decrease in rates next year won't last forever, though. BC Hydro's new forecast for rate changes over the next four years calls for the one per cent reduction next year, followed by an increase of 2.7 per cent in April 2021, a decrease of 0.3 per cent in April 2022 and an increase of three per cent in April 2023.
On a cumulative basis, over the next five years, BC Hydro says bills will increase 6.2 per cent. That's significantly lower than the 8.1 per cent cumulative five-year increase that was previously planned.
The one per cent reduction in 2020 is projected to save residential customers "up to $16" for the year. Larger savings are expected for commercial and industrial customers -- who generally use more electricity than private homes -- as a result of the rate decrease.
