On June 15, the Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions and BC Hydro announced a new long-term strategy to address increasing electricity demand. Powering Growth, Fueling Opportunity outlines the Province’s response to projected increases in electricity demand of 20% by 2030 and a 50% by 2050, including a 44% increase in peak demand. The plan aims to meet this increased demand through three approaches:
- Expanding efficiency measures, including a $1‑billion Power Smart 2.0 program;
- Upgrading existing hydroelectric facilities to increase capacity;
- Building new generation and transmission assets – including exploring new large hydro projects and additional alternative energy sources.
Local governments are expected to play an important role in implementation, particularly in supporting conservation programs and enabling growth.
Launched in May 2026, BC Hydro’s expanded energy efficiency and demand response program includes $1 billion over three years to support households and businesses to reduce and shift electricity consumption. Through rebates, incentives and tools such as smart thermostats and improved digital services, the Power Smart 2.0 Plan aims to ease pressure on the electricity system and defer investments in electricity infrastructure replacement.
BC Hydro’s commitment to upgrade existing electricity generating facilities and build new generation and transmission assets reflect a scaling up of recent efforts to provide more power. Following a 15-year hiatus, BC Hydro awarded contracts for 10 renewable energy projects in 2024 through a competitive call for power procurement process. In 2025 it issued a second call for power and awarded contracts for four more projects. Exploring one or more large new hydro projects under this new strategy – which will require a legislative amendment to the Clean Energy Act to assess – represents a scaling-up of Provincial electrical generation efforts to meet surging electricity demand.
The size of this gap between current capacity and future demand, however, is not clear. The projected figures for electricity demand growth driving this strategy are significantly lower than two recent strategies: Powering our Future: BC’s Clean Energy Strategy (2024) and the federal government’s Powering Canada Strong (2026) strategy both anticipate a doubling of electricity demand by 2050, rather than projected the 50% increase used as a baseline for this Powering Growth strategy.
In recent years UBCM members have made several calls for incentives, support and regulation to encourage local government renewable energy projects (2022-EB47, 2021-NR29), and have requested improved communication from BC Hydro on how it plans to meet increasing electricity needs. (2023-NR43)
The Province has indicated that collaboration with First Nations, local governments, industry, and customers will be essential to delivering the plan. Additional details on consultation processes, timelines, and funding mechanisms are expected as projects advance, and UBCM will continue to monitor progress.