ORDER NUMBER
G-114-18
IN THE MATTER OF
the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473
and
Recovery of British Columbia Utilities Commission Costs
for the 2018/19 Fiscal Year
BEFORE:
D. M. Morton, Commissioner
K. A. Keilty, Commissioner
on June 19, 2018
ORDER
WHEREAS:
A. Section 125 of the Utilities Commission Act (UCA) enables the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) to recover its expenses, arising from the administration of the UCA, in each fiscal year commencing April 1 and to fix and collect levies from public utilities and other persons so defined. BC Regulation 283/88 dated July 29, 1988, authorizes the BCUC to collect and retain all levies collected under the BC Regulation 283/88 and to base the amount of a levy on the value and the volume of the energy transmitted or distributed or the service furnished;
B. The 2018/19 BCUC budget supports the BCUC Business Plan. On April 6, 2018, the BCUC sent a notice of the BCUC 2018/19 budget to the regulated entities with the opportunity to comment;
C. The current year’s levy for recovering BCUC expenses is based on its 2018/19 approved budget less the BCUC’s over-recovery of $464,946 from 2017/18. That figure is then divided by the total energy sales of the regulated energy utilities for the calendar year 2017;
D. The BCUC’s recovery of its apportioned costs to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia requires a different method of cost recovery rather than by way of a levy on energy sales and the amount of $700,000 per fiscal year was previously established; and
E. The BCUC will recover its expenses from the levy calculation on a quarterly basis and may adjust the fourth quarter billing in order to account for variances from budgeted revenues received during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019.
NOW THEREFORE pursuant to section 125 of the Utilities Commission Act and BC Regulation 283/88, the BCUC orders as follows:
1. A levy, at the rate of $0.0258730552 per GJ equivalent of energy sold for the calendar year 2017 shall be paid by, and collected from, the public utilities, as set out in Appendix A attached to this order, for the recovery of BCUC expenses in the fiscal year commencing April 1, 2018.
2. The following public utilities are required to pay the levy fixed for the 2018/19 fiscal year, to be billed in installments, as set out in Appendix A attached to this order.
3. The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia shall pay the BCUC’s 2018/19 fiscal year allocated budgeted expenses of $700,000 in quarterly installments.
4. The BCUC’s cost recovery for the 2018/19 fiscal year will be reviewed in the last quarter to ensure the apportioned costs to all regulated entities are appropriate and may make necessary adjustments at that time.
5. Pursuant to BC Regulation 283/88 and Letter L-39-96, the following upstream natural gas processors and intraprovincial oil pipelines shall pay the following amounts for the fiscal year commencing April 1, 2018:
Canadian Natural Resources Limited $1,000
Canadian Natural Resources Limited – Inga Oil Pipeline $1,000
Canadian Natural Resources Limited – Midwinter, Peggo, Tooga $3,000
Trans Mountain (Jet Fuel) Inc. $1,000
Plateau Pipeline Limited $5,000
Enbridge Inc. (merged with Spectra Energy Midstream Corporation) $6,000
6. The cost recovery revenue from natural gas marketers for the residential and commercial unbundling program for the 2018/19 fiscal year is estimated to be $6,000.
DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this 28th day of June 2018.
BY ORDER
Original signed by:
D. M. Morton
Commissioner
Attachment