Orders

ORDER NUMBER

R-8-25

IN THE MATTER OF

the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473

and

British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority

Mandatory Reliability Standards Assessment Report No. 18

BEFORE:

E. A. Brown, Commissioner

A. K. Fung, KC, Commissioner

E. B. Lockhart, Commissioner

on July 3, 2025

ORDER

WHEREAS:

A.      On April 30, 2025, pursuant to section 125.2(3) of the Utilities Commission Act (UCA), British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority (BC Hydro) submitted to the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) Mandatory Reliability Standards (MRS) Assessment Report No. 18 (Report) assessing one new and five revised reliability standards and seven new terms and thirty revised terms from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation Glossary of Terms dated November 4, 2024. BC Hydro recommends that the six new and revised reliability standards and 37 new and revised terms be adopted in BC;

B.      By Order R-5-25 dated May 29, 2025, the BCUC established a regulatory timetable for a proceeding to review the Report. The regulatory timetable in the Assessment Report No. 18 proceeding included notice to all entities registered in BC’s MRS program and a comment process;

C.      On June 26, 2025, in compliance with Directive 12 of BCUC Order R-24-22A1, BC Hydro filed Quarterly Assessment Report No. 10 (Quarterly Report) for the reporting period of March 1, 2025 to May 31, 2025. In the Quarterly Report, BC Hydro states that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved reliability standard BAL-004-WECC-4 on April 23, 2025, with an effective date of October 1, 2025, in the US;

D.      BC Hydro has determined that BAL-004-WECC-4 has real-time operational coordination dependencies across the Western Interconnection and categorizes it as a critical standard. Accordingly, BC Hydro recommends an accelerated adoption of BAL-004-WECC-4 with a proposed effective date of October 1, 2025, in alignment with the effective date in the US;

E.       BC Hydro states in the Quarterly Report that BAL-004-WECC-4 is only applicable to and impacts the Balancing Authority (BA) function and, as BC Hydro is the only BA registered in the Province of BC, consultation with other BC registered entities in the MRS program is not necessary;

F.       Pursuant to section 125.2(5) of the UCA, if the BCUC receives a report under section 125.2(3) of the UCA, the BCUC must make the report available to the public in a reasonable manner, and for a reasonable period of time and consider any comments in response to the report; and

G.      Following the review of the Quarterly Report, the BCUC determines that the establishment of an amended regulatory timetable is warranted to provide the public an opportunity to comment on the Quarterly Report in this proceeding.

NOW THEREFORE pursuant to section 125.2(5) of the UCA, the BCUC orders as follows:

1.       The Quarterly Report and reliability standard BAL-004-WECC-4 are included in the MRS Assessment Report No. 18 proceeding.

2.       The regulatory timetable in this proceeding is amended as set out in Appendix A to this Order.

DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this         3^rd          day of July 2025.

BY ORDER

Electronically signed by Elizabeth A. (Lisa) Brown

E. A. Brown

Commissioner

Attachment

British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority

Mandatory Reliability Standards Assessment Report No. 18