BILL 85 -- 2003: BC HYDRO PUBLIC POWER LEGACY AND HERITAGE CONTRACT ACT

2003 Legislative Session: 4th Session, 37th Parliament
FIRST READING

The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.
The printed version remains the official version.

HONOURABLE RICHARD NEUFELD
MINISTER OF ENERGY AND MINES

BILL 85 -- 2003

BC HYDRO PUBLIC POWER LEGACY AND
HERITAGE CONTRACT ACT

Contents

Section
1	Definitions
2	Sale of protected assets prohibited
3	Heritage contract
4	Power to make regulations
5	Repeal
6	Transitional
	Schedule

HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

Definitions

1 In this Act:

"authority" has the same meaning as in the Hydro and Power Authority Act;

"commission" has the same meaning as in the Utilities Commission Act;

"protected assets" means any of the following in respect of which, on the date on which this Act receives First Reading in the Legislative Assembly, a certificate of public convenience and necessity has been granted, or has been deemed to have been granted, to the authority under the Utilities Commission Act:

(a) those generation and storage assets identified in the Schedule to this Act;

(b) equipment or facilities for the transmission or distribution of electricity;

"reference" means the request for recommendations made under Order in Council 253/2003;

"service" has the same meaning as in the Utilities Commission Act.

Sale of protected assets prohibited

2 (1) Subject to subsection (2), the authority must not sell or otherwise dispose of the protected assets.

(2) Nothing in subsection (1) prevents the authority from disposing of protected assets if

(a) the assets disposed of are no longer fit for their intended purpose,

(b) the assets disposed of are no longer used or useful,

(d) the disposition is in accordance with one or more of the agreements designated by the Lieutenant Governor in Council under section 3 of the Transmission Corporation Act.

Heritage contract

3 Without limiting any other obligation of the commission or the authority,

(a) the commission must, when setting rates of the authority, comply with any regulations, including, without limitation, any general or special directions, made by the Lieutenant Governor in Council under this Act, and

(b) the authority must provide the service required by the regulations made under this Act, in accordance with

(i) the terms and conditions specified in those regulations, and

(ii) the rates set by the commission in accordance with the regulations.

Power to make regulations

4 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations referred to in section 41 of the Interpretation Act.

(2) Without limiting subsection (1) of this section, section 3 of the Utilities Commission Act or section 35 of the Hydro and Power Authority Act, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make any regulations the Lieutenant Governor in Council considers necessary or advisable to respond to the recommendations made by the commission in response to the reference, including, without limitation, any of the following regulations:

(a) to amend any regulation made under any of the Utilities Commission Act, the Hydro and Power Authority Act and the Transmission Corporation Act;

(b) to issue directions to the commission specifying the factors, criteria and guidelines that the commission must or must not use in regulating and setting rates for the authority that are applicable to the service referred to in section 3 (b) of this Act.

Repeal

5 The Hydro and Power Authority Privatization Act is repealed.

Transitional

6 (1) Despite section 24 (3) of the Hydro and Power Authority Privatization Act, as it read before the coming into force of this Act, any designation under which Terasen Inc. or Terasen Gas Inc. or any of their respective predecessors is or became a special company under Part 2 of the Hydro and Power Authority Privatization Act is revoked.

(2) Without limiting subsection (1), none of the provisions of Part 2 of the Hydro and Power Authority Privatization Act as it read before the coming into force of this Act apply to Terasen Inc. or to Terasen Gas Inc.

Schedule

Those generation and storage assets commonly known as the following:

Aberfeldie	La Joie
Alouette	Ladore
Ash River	Mica
Bridge River	Peace Canyon
Buntzen/Coquitlam	Prince Rupert
Burrard Thermal	Puntledge
Cheakamus	Revelstoke
Clowhom	Ruskin
Duncan	Seton
Elko	Seven Mile
Falls River	Shuswap
Fort Nelson	Spillimacheen
G. M. Shrum	Stave Falls
Hugh Keenleyside Dam (Arrow Reservoir)	Strathcona
John Hart	Wahleach
Jordan	Walter Hardman
Kootenay Canal	Whatshan

Explanatory Note

This Bill

confirms that the generation , storage, transmission and distribution assets of British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority identified in the Bill are not to be sold or disposed of unless those assets are no longer fit for purpose, are no longer used or useful or are to be replaced with assets that fulfill a similar function, or unless the sale or disposition is in accordance with agreements designated under the Transmission Corporation Act;

directs the Utilities Commission and British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority to comply with the regulations of the Lieutenant Governor in Council respecting the service that, under this Act, is to be provided by British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority;

allows the Lieutenant Governor in Council to make regulations to respond to the recommendations the commission may make in response to the request for recommendations made under Order in Council 253/2003;

repeals the Hydro and Power Authority Privatization Act, revokes the designations of Terasen Inc. and Terasen Gas Inc. as special companies under that Act and removes any application of Part 2 of that Act to those companies.

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