Orders

ORDER NUMBER

R-6-18

IN THE MATTER OF

the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473

and

British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority

Application for Acceptance of a Mitigation Plan required for

Compliance with Mandatory Reliability Standard:

PRC-004-WECC-1 Requirement 3 - Violation ID:  BCUC2017000613

BEFORE:

W. M. Everett, QC, Commissioner

on January 16, 2018

ORDER

WHEREAS:

A.      On January 9, 2018, the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC), acting as the Administrator for the British Columbia Mandatory Reliability Standards Program (BC MRS Program), issued a Recommendation of Mitigation Plan (MP) Acceptance (Recommendation) to bring British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority (BC Hydro) into compliance with the reliability standard identified above;

B.      Section 125.2 of the Utilities Commission Act (UCA) assigns exclusive jurisdiction to the British Columbia Utilities Commission (Commission) to determine whether a “reliability standard,” as defined in the UCA, is in the public interest and should be adopted in British Columbia. By Order G-123-09, the Commission approved the Compliance Monitoring Program (CMP) for monitoring and enforcement of adopted reliability standards and appointed WECC as its Administrator for registration and monitoring compliance as per section 8 of the UCA. WECC’s role as Administrator for the BC MRS Program was renewed in the first amended Administration Agreement, dated August 21, 2014, and most recent revisions to the CMP were approved by Commission Order R-40-17, dated September 1, 2017;

C.      Pursuant to section 5.1.1 of the CMP, an entity subject to approved Mandatory Reliability Standards found in Confirmed Violation of a reliability standard must prepare an MP to correct the Confirmed Violation or prepare a description of how the Confirmed Violation has been mitigated. Pursuant to section 5.3.2 of the CMP, an MP with respect to a Confirmed Violation must be submitted to the Administrator within ten days following confirmation by the Commission;

D.      An MP with respect to a Possible Violation or an Alleged Violation may be submitted at any time and the Commission encourages entities to mitigate all perceived instances of noncompliance upon detection;

E.       On September 22, 2017, BC Hydro submitted an MP to address the self-reported Possible Violation PRC‑004‑WECC‑1 R3, with the proposed completion date as shown below; and

F.       The Commission reviewed WECC’s Recommendation and considers that acceptance of the MP is warranted.

NOW THEREFORE pursuant to section 125.2(10) of the UCA and in accordance with the CMP, the Commission accepts the MP with the proposed completion date as identified above.

DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this           16^th                 day of January 2018.

BY ORDER

Original signed by:

W. M. Everett, QC

Commissioner