BC Hydro cancels 4 power deals while considering more ways to cut costs

VANCOUVER – BC Hydro says it has cancelled four agreements to buy private electricity and is looking at others as it searches for ways to cut costs.

The announcement was tucked inside the utility’s draft power plan released last week and includes recommendations on how the utility can meet an expected 40 per cent increase in electrical demand over the next 20 years.

The report contains few details on the cancelled agreements, but says the completion of the projects was not “100 per cent certain” prior to termination.

In the spring, BC Hydro had 55 electricity-purchase deals with independent hydro-power producers and 35 agreements with projects in development.

The utility says that in the future, it aims to renew only those agreements with facilities that have the lowest cost and the greatest certainty of continued operation.

Joe Foy of the Wilderness Committee calls the cancelled agreements “dead ducks,” adding BC Hydro and the provincial government need to cancel even more contracts in order to cut costs and protect the environment.