BCUC Approves Changes to BC Hydro’s Net Metering Program

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) issues its decision on BC Hydro’s net metering program, which allows participating customers to generate clean electricity for their own use and sell what they do not use to BC Hydro.

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The BCUC approves BC Hydro to replace its current Net Metering Service Rate with a Self-Generation Service Rate that compensates customers at 10 cents per kilowatt (kWh) for surplus electricity sold into BC Hydro’s grid. The new rate better reflects the value of electricity entering the grid and reduces program subsidization by other BC Hydro ratepayers.

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In addition, the BCUC approves replacing restrictions on the size of a customer’s generation equipment with limits to the amount of electricity a customer can sell to BC Hydro. Moving forward, customers with greater needs will be able to generate more electricity while keeping interconnections with the BC Hydro grid safe and simple.

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The Self-Generation Service Rate takes effect on July 1, 2026, for new customers and existing net metering customers who received BC Hydro’s rebate for solar panels.

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All other Net Metering Service Rate customers will have 10 years from the date they joined the program to transition to the new rate. The BCUC finds this is a reasonable amount of time to balance the needs of BC Hydro’s customer groups; it provides net metering customers time to adjust to the rate changes, while reducing program subsidization from other BC Hydro ratepayers.

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The BCUC also approves a new Community Generation Service Rate to allow multiple customers to share the benefits of a single facility that generates electricity. Under this new rate, up to two megawatts of surplus electricity can be sold to BC Hydro from community facilities at 10 cents per kWh.

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Additionally, this new rate includes safeguards to ensure community participation, such as adjusting the maximum amount of electricity that can be sold to BC Hydro based on the number of participating customers and establishing rules for how benefits are distributed among those customers.

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The Community Generation Service Rate takes effect on July 1, 2026.

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BC Hydro will submit an evaluation report on the new service rates to the BCUC by April 30, 2030.

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For more information about the BCUC’s decision or BC Hydro’s application, please see the proceeding page.

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Background

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The BCUC held a transparent and thorough public proceeding to review BC Hydro’s application that included input and feedback from sixteen interveners and intervener groups, and over 130 members of the public.

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BC Hydro’s net metering service, which allows residential and commercial customers to install clean on-site energy generation with capacity up to 100 kW to serve all or part of their electricity needs, was first introduced in 2004. When customers generate more electricity than they require, they can sell the surplus electricity to BC Hydro under the BCUC approved Net Metering Service Rate.