Orders

ORDER NUMBER

G-214-19

 

IN THE MATTER OF

the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473

 

and

 

British Columbia Utilities Commission

Indigenous Utilities Regulation Inquiry

 

BEFORE:

D. M. Morton, Panel Chair

C. M. Brewer, Commissioner

A. K. Fung, QC, Commissioner

E. B. Lockhart, Commissioner

 

on September 6, 2019

 

ORDER

WHEREAS:

 

A.      On March 11, 2019, by Order in Council (OIC) No. 108, made pursuant to section 5(1) of the Utilities Commission Act (UCA), the Lieutenant Governor in Council directed the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) to advise the Lieutenant Governor in Council respecting the regulation of Indigenous utilities in accordance with the terms of reference set out in section 3 of OIC No. 108 (Indigenous Utilities Regulation Inquiry);

B.      Section 3 of OIC No. 108 also provides that the BCUC must submit reports to the minister responsible for the Hydro and Power Authority Act, as follows:

1.       An interim report describing the BCUC's progress to date and the BCUC’s preliminary findings must be submitted no later than December 31, 2019; and

2.       A final report describing the results of consultations undertaken by the BCUC and the BCUC's findings and recommendations must be submitted no later than January 31, 2020;

C.      By Order G-62-19 dated March 19, 2019, the BCUC established the Indigenous Utilities Regulation Inquiry;

D.      By Order G-190-19 dated August 9, 2019, the BCUC issued a regulatory timetable for the Inquiry; and

E.       The BCUC considers that an updated regulatory timetable is warranted.

 

 

NOW THEREFORE the BCUC orders that an updated regulatory timetable is established for the Indigenous Utilities Regulation Inquiry, attached as Appendix A to this order.

 

 

DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this          6th          day of September 2019.

 

BY ORDER

 

Original signed by:

 

D. M. Morton

Commissioner

 

 

Attachment

 

 

British Columbia Utilities Commission

Indigenous Utilities Regulation Inquiry

 

 

 

 

¹ The BCUC will be hosting an input session from 5:30pm to 9pm to coincide with the BC Assembly of First Nations 16^th Annual General Assembly, which will take place at the River Rock Hotel (8811 River Road, Richmond, BC, V6X 3P8). Please RSVP to confirm attendance at this session by contacting Commission Secretary at commission.secretary@bcuc.com.

 

² The BCUC is offering all registered interveners the opportunity to provide oral final argument to the Panel. Providing an oral final argument is considered equivalent to a written final argument, and is optional. The oral final argument will be transcribed, and the transcript will be added to the Inquiry website. Interveners must notify the BCUC at commission.secretary@bcuc.com of their intention to make an oral final argument. The BCUC will consider arrangements for providing final argument by teleconference if requested in advance. Interveners will be heard on a first-come-first-served basis. The Panel may ask questions on an intervener’s final argument, but interveners may not ask questions of each other.

 

Note that the deadline for final written argument has been extended by one week to allow interveners to address any additional matters flowing from the oral final argument.

 

³ The BCUC will be holding workshops to gather feedback on the draft report, which will be open to public attendance. The timing and further details regarding the sessions will be provided in due course.