In unveiling details from the rate application that it will put before the British Columbia Utilities Commission, BC Hydro has thrown down a gauntlet, so to speak.

As a public utility, the document BC Hydro submits for oversight will be its assessment of the revenue it believes is fairly needed to carry out the job that is required of it to deliver electricity to most of British Columbia.

The hearing, however, won't be a closed question, and with BC Hydro asking for increases that add up to 32 per cent over the next three years and hints that rates could climb 50 per cent over the next five years, the challenges promise to be legion.
BC Hydro's challenge is that it is hitting a period where it needs to refurbish the power plants and infrastructure it built 40 to 50 years ago, which requires significant capital, and a certain level of rate increases.

However, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre challenges BC Hydro on the need for 32 per cent (9.73 per cent compounded over three years). Executive director Jim Quayle takes particular issue with Hydro's plan to spend $930 million on smart meters and the government's policy of buying electricity from independent power producers.

That's just a thumbnail of B.C. PIAC's thoughts, and there no doubt will be others.

Elements of the plan are destined to become political issues as well.

While the B.C. Liberal leadership campaign has been relatively quiet on BC Hydro and power issues, the NDP leadership campaign has taken up the charge with respect to independent power projects. More details of that are in my colleague Larry Pynn's article here.

In short, BC Hydro's rate application hearing is one that likely will not go quietly.