Orders

ORDER NUMBER

G-127-25

IN THE MATTER OF

the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473

and

FortisBC Inc.

2025 Cost of Service Allocation and Revenue Rebalancing

BEFORE:

E. B. Lockhart, Panel Chair

E. A. Brown, Commissioner

on May 27, 2025

ORDER

WHEREAS:

A.      On February 14, 2025, FortisBC Inc. (FBC) filed with the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC), pursuant to sections 58 to 61 of the Utilities Commission Act, its 2025 Cost of Service Allocation (COSA) study and application for approval of revenue rebalancing, as well as approval to establish a new rate base deferral account to record the regulatory proceeding costs associated with the review of the application, effective January 1, 2026 (Application);

B.      By Order G-60-25, the BCUC established the regulatory timetable for the proceeding, which included public notice of the Application, intervener registration, one round of information requests (IRs), and final and reply arguments;

C.      On May 15, 2025, FBC filed an update to the Application (Updated Application) and responses to IRs, which resulted in amendments to its approval sought, and proposed a second round of IRs;

D.      In the Updated Application, FBC requests approval of revenue and rate rebalancing proposals, including the following changes to rate schedules (RS) effective January 1, 2026:

1.       For RS 20 Small Commercial Service and 22 Commercial Service – Secondary – Time of Use, rebalancing of all billing-determinant-related rate components such that revenues are decreased by 2.4 percent;

2.       For RS 31 Large Commercial Service - Transmission and 33 Large Commercial Service – Transmission – Time of Use, rebalancing of all billing-determinant-related rate components such that revenues are decreased by 0.3 percent;

3.       For RS 40 Wholesale Service – Primary and 42 Wholesale Service – Primary – Time of Use, rebalancing of all billing-determinant-related rate components such that revenues are increased by 1.1 percent; and

4.       For RS 60 Irrigation and Drainage and 61 Irrigation and Drainage – Time of Use, phase-in the rebalancing of all billing-determinant-related rate components such that revenues are increased by 3.0 percent each year, with the in-season irrigation rate from April to October increasing by 3.9 percent each year, over the five-year phase-in period;

E.       With regard to the approvals sought for RS 60, FBC also seeks approval of a non-rate base deferral account titled the Irrigation Rebalancing Phase-in deferral account, attracting FBC’s weighted average cost of capital, to be amortized over the proposed five-year phase-in period and recovered from all customers through FBC’s general rate increases;

F.       FBC also requests the following approvals in the Updated Application to update the transformation discount as a result of the 2025 COSA study under RS 21, 30, and 40 for customers who choose to take service at the primary distribution voltage level (RS 21) or at the transmission voltage level (RS 30 and 40), effective January 1, 2026:

1.       For RS 21 Commercial Service, an update to the transformation discount from $0.409 per kilowatt of Billing Demand to $0.4841 per kilowatt (from $0.371 to $0.4357 on a kilovolt-ampere [kVA] basis) of Billing Demand;

2.       For RS 30 Large Commercial Service – Primary, an update to the transformation discount from $6.727 per kVA of Billing Demand to $5.980 per kVA of Billing Demand; and

3.       For RS 40 Wholesale Service – Primary, an update to the transformation discount under the Wires Charge from $3.390 per kVA of Billing Demand to $3.780 per kVA of Billing Demand and under the Energy Charge reduced from $0.00985 per kilowatt-hour to $0.00926 per kilowatt-hour.

G.      The BCUC has considered the Updated Application and finds that an amended timetable is warranted.  

NOW THEREFORE the BCUC orders as follows:

1.       The regulatory timetable is amended as set out in Appendix A to this order.

2.       Interveners are limited to a maximum of 15 questions each, inclusive of sub-questions for Intervener IR
No. 2.

DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this      27^th                       day of May 2025.

BY ORDER

Electronically signed by Blair Lockhart

E. B. Lockhart

Commissioner

Attachment

FortisBC Inc.

2025 Cost of Service Allocation and Revenue Rebalancing