BC Hydro and Power Authority

BC HYDRO AND POWER AUTHORITY, the largest of the provincial CROWN CORPS and third largest electric utility in Canada, generates and delivers electricity to more than 94 percent of the province's population. The corporation generates between 43,000 and 54,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually. Most of this power is produced by 31 hydroelectric generating stations around the province; the rest is produced at steam, gas turbine and stationary diesel plants. In 2019 BC Hydro earned revenues of $6.5 billion and had more than 6,000 employees. It is regulated by the BC Utilities Commission.

BC Hydro was created in 1962 when the provincial government merged the recently nationalized BC ELECTRIC RWY CO with the BC POWER COMMISSION in order to have a utility large enough to undertake massive hydroelectric developments on the PEACE and COLUMBIA rivers. Largely because of these developments BC Hydro more than quintupled the electrical capacity of the province between 1962 and 1980. The corporation also built a vast network of transmission lines to carry power to markets, principally in the Lower Mainland. At the same time small utilities were purchased and integrated into the system. Along with power dams the corporation operates the Burrard Thermal Generating Station at PORT MOODY. Completed in 1963, the station uses natural gas to produce steam to drive turbines that produce electricity for the VANCOUVER area. When the province acquired BC Electric it took possession of a gas company and a variety of transit lines. BC Hydro began shedding these operations in 1979; by the end of the 1980s it was purely an electrical utility. During the 1980s Hydro's emphasis also shifted from construction of new production facilities to conservation and improved efficiency. The Power Smart program, initiated in 1989, is considered a model of energy conservation through public education. In 2003 the province created a separate company, BC Transmission Corporation, to operate Hydro's transmission assets. In 2010 Hydro and BCTC reconsolidated into a single company. See also HYDROELECTRICITY; OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY.