Orders

ORDER NUMBER

G-61-21

IN THE MATTER OF

the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473

and

Vancouver Airport Authority

Application for an Exemption Pursuant to Section 88(3) of the

Utilities Commission Act for the Resale of Natural Gas

BEFORE:

R. I. Mason, Panel Chair

W. M. Everett, QC, Commissioner

T. A. Loski, Commissioner

on March 2, 2021

ORDER

WHEREAS:

A.      On December 11, 2020, pursuant to section 88(3) of the Utilities Commission Act (UCA), Vancouver Airport Authority (YVR) applied to the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) seeking approval for exemption from section 71 and Part 3 of the UCA except sections 25, 38, 41 and 42, in relation to YVR’s resale of natural gas at the Vancouver International Airport (Airport) (Application);

B.      In the Application, YVR states that it currently purchases the natural gas it resells from the gas marketer, Direct Energy Marketing Limited (Direct Energy), which is transported to the Airport by FortisBC Energy Inc. (FEI) under Rate Schedules 25 and 23 and distributed to YVR tenants;

C.      YVR acknowledges in the Application that since YVR resells natural gas to tenants with lease terms of more than 5 years, it is captured by the definition of a public utility, as it is defined in the UCA;

D.      In the UCA, a public utility is defined in section 1, in part, as:

A person, or the person’s lessee, trustee, receiver or liquidator, who owns or operates in British Columbia, equipment or facilities for the (a) production, generation, storage, transmission, sale, delivery or provision of electricity, natural gas, steam or any other agent for the production of light, heat, cold or power to or for the public or a corporation for compensation;

E.       By Order G-30-21 dated January 28, 2021, the BCUC established a regulatory timetable, which included, among other things, one round of BCUC information requests (IRs) with responses due back from YVR on March 1, 2021;

F.       By letter dated March 1, 2021, YVR requested an extension to file its responses to BCUC IR No. 1 from March 1, 2021 to March 15, 2021 (Extension Request); and

G.      The Panel has reviewed the Extension Request and considers that an amendment to the regulatory timetable is warranted.

NOW THEREFORE the BCUC orders as follows:

1.       The regulatory timetable established by Order G-30-21 is amended as set out in Appendix A to this order.

2.       YVR is directed to continue to publish weekly reminder notices of the Application on its social media platforms until the conclusion of the letter of comment period on Monday, March 22, 2021.

DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this                  2^nd              day of March 2021.

BY ORDER

Original signed by:

R. I. Mason

Commissioner

Attachment

Vancouver Airport Authority

Application for an Exemption Pursuant to Section 88(3) of the

Utilities Commission Act for the Resale of Natural Gas