“The smartest electricity grid is not simply one that produces more power. It is one that learns to use the power it already has at the right time, in the right place, and at the right cost.” – MJ Martin
A Provincial Electricity System in Transition
British Columbia’s electricity sector is entering one of the most significant periods of change in its history. Building electrification, electric vehicles, heat pumps, distributed energy resources, energy storage, new generation, cybersecurity, and growing electricity demand are changing how the provincial grid must be planned and operated.
The British Columbia Utilities Commission, or BCUC, plays a central regulatory role in this transition. It reviews utility rates, capital investments, resource plans, infrastructure requirements, and major changes affecting electricity customers. BC Hydro’s long-term planning also anticipates substantial growth in electricity demand and the need for additional clean generation, transmission capacity, demand-side management, and other resources. In many respects, the electricity system is becoming like a highway network during a rapidly growing rush hour. Building more lanes is one solution, but managing when people use the highway can sometimes be less expensive.
B.C. Has Already Introduced Time-of-Use Pricing
British Columbia is no longer simply considering time-of-use electricity pricing. BC Hydro already offers an optional residential time-of-day rate.
The BCUC approved BC Hydro’s optional residential time-of-use structure in December 2023, and BC Hydro introduced the program in June 2024. Residential customers can elect to use time-of-day pricing with eligible residential rate structures. The objective is to encourage customers to shift discretionary electricity consumption away from periods when the provincial system experiences its highest demand. (Sources: British Columbia Utilities Commission and BC Hydro.)
Under the program, electricity consumed between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. receives a 5-cent-per-kWh discount. Electricity used during the peak period between 4:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. receives a 5-cent-per-kWh surcharge. Electricity used during the remaining hours is charged without the time-of-day adjustment. (Source: BC Hydro.)
Time-of-Use Pricing Versus Time-of-Use Metering
It is important to distinguish time-of-use pricing from time-of-use metering. British Columbia already has extensive deployment of digital interval-capable electricity meters capable of recording when electricity is consumed.
The meter is therefore the measuring instrument. The time-of-use rate is the economic signal applied to that information.
This distinction is similar to a toll highway. The road already knows when a vehicle passes the tolling point. The policy decision is whether travelling during rush hour should cost more than travelling late at night.
Electric Vehicles Make Timing Increasingly Important
Electric vehicles demonstrate why time-sensitive electricity rates are becoming important. An EV may require a substantial amount of electricity, but the charging period can often be moved without inconveniencing the customer.
Charging an electric vehicle at midnight instead of 6:00 p.m. can reduce demand on generators, transmission lines, substations, transformers, and distribution feeders without reducing the total amount of energy delivered to the vehicle. BC Hydro specifically identifies overnight EV charging as an important opportunity for customers using time-of-day pricing. (Source: BC Hydro.)
Heat pumps, electric water heaters, batteries, and automated building controls may provide similar opportunities.
Time-Based Rates Could Expand Further
The longer-term question is how extensively British Columbia will use time-sensitive electricity pricing.
BC Hydro continues to examine rate design for different customer classes, including commercial and general-service customers. FortisBC also uses time-sensitive rate structures within some electricity customer categories. These developments indicate that utilities and regulators increasingly recognize that when electricity is consumed can be almost as important as how much electricity is consumed.
At the same time, the BCUC has strengthened cybersecurity requirements for regulated utilities. Its cybersecurity framework, effective January 1, 2026, aligns utility cybersecurity programs with recognized standards including the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0. This becomes increasingly important as meters, communications networks, customer portals, billing systems, and operational technologies become interconnected.
The Larger Policy Question for British Columbia
The important question for British Columbia is therefore no longer whether time-of-use pricing is possible. It is already operating.
The more significant questions concern how far the concept should eventually extend.
* Should time-of-use pricing remain voluntary, or could it someday become the standard residential rate?
* Should winter evening electricity carry a higher premium than electricity consumed overnight?
* Should utilities compensate customers who allow EV chargers, batteries, water heaters, and heat pumps to respond automatically to grid conditions?
There is also an important equity question. How should British Columbia protect customers who cannot easily shift their electricity consumption because of employment schedules, housing circumstances, family requirements, age, or disability?
The technology required for time-based electricity pricing largely exists today. The next chapter will be determined by regulation, economics, customer behaviour, and public policy. Time-of-use pricing may ultimately become one of British Columbia’s most important tools for accommodating electrification while controlling the enormous cost of expanding the electricity system.
About the Author:
Michael Martin is the Vice President of Technology with Metercor Inc., a Smart Meter, IoT, and Smart City systems integrator based in Canada. He has more than 40 years of experience in systems design for applications that use broadband networks, optical fibre, wireless, and digital communications technologies. He is a business and technology consultant. He was a senior executive consultant for 15 years with IBM, where he worked in the GBS Global Center of Competency for Energy and Utilities and the GTS Global Center of Excellence for Energy and Utilities. He is a founding partner and President of MICAN Communications and before that was President of Comlink Systems Limited and Ensat Broadcast Services, Inc., both divisions of Cygnal Technologies Corporation (CYN: TSX).
Martin served on the Board of Directors for TeraGo Inc (TGO: TSX) and on the Board of Directors for Avante Logixx Inc. (XX: TSX.V). He has served as a Member, SCC ISO-IEC JTC 1/SC-41 – Internet of Things and related technologies, ISO – International Organization for Standardization, and as a member of the NIST SP 500-325 Fog Computing Conceptual Model, National Institute of Standards and Technology. He served on the Board of Governors of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) [now Ontario Tech University] and on the Board of Advisers of five different Colleges in Ontario – Centennial College, Humber College, George Brown College, Durham College, Ryerson Polytechnic University [now Toronto Metropolitan University]. For 16 years he served on the Board of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Toronto Section.
He holds three master’s degrees – in business (MBA), communication (MA), and education (MEd). As well, he has three undergraduate diplomas and seven major certifications in business, computer programming, internetworking, project management, media, photography, and communication technology. He has completed over 80 next generation MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) [aka Micro Learning] continuous education programs in a wide variety of topics, including: Economics, Python Programming, Internet of Things, Cloud, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive systems, Blockchain, Agile, Power BI, Big Data, Design Thinking, Security, Indigenous Canada awareness, and more.
Martin is a volunteer, a photographer, a learner, a technologist, a philosophizer, and a romantic optimist.