A STEP BACK FOR SOLAR

For years, British Columbians have been encouraged to invest in solar power.

In 2024, the provincial government and BC Hydro went even further, introducing rebates for customers willing to spend their own money installing solar panels on their homes.

Part of the appeal was net metering.

Under that system, any excess electricity a household generated and sent to the grid was banked as a credit. It was essentially a one-for-one exchange: one kilowatt-hour supplied to the grid could offset one kilowatt-hour used from BC Hydro later.

That mattered because solar panels do not generate the same amount of electricity throughout the year. A household could produce more electricity than it needed during sunny summer months and use those banked credits during colder or cloudier periods when its panels could not meet the home’s demand.

On July 1, 2026, that arrangement closed to new customers and BC Hydro’s new self-generation rate took effect.

Under the new system, excess electricity is no longer banked as a one-for-one credit. Instead, BC Hydro will purchase it for 10 cents per kilowatt-hour.

That means, when the household later needs additional electricity from the grid, it must purchase that electricity at the regular residential rate. Under BC Hydro’s tiered rate, that can be as much as 14.08 cents per kilowatt-hour.

In that situation, a customer could sell a kilowatt-hour to BC Hydro for 10 cents and later pay 14.08 cents to purchase a kilowatt-hour—4.08 cents more than they received.

The change does not immediately remove the former rate from every existing customer. Those already enrolled in net metering can generally remain under the old arrangement until 10 years after their original start date.

There is, however, an important exception.

Customers who accepted BC Hydro’s solar rebate will be moved onto the new rate. Some customers who received the rebate before the change was approved can remain under the former system—but only if they repay the rebate.

That means people who responded to a government incentive, spent thousands of dollars installing solar and accepted a rebate intended to make that investment more affordable are among those now being moved away from one-for-one net metering.

Solar panels can still lower a household’s electricity costs, particularly when the electricity they generate is used immediately inside the home. But reducing the value of the electricity sent to the grid can make solar less attractive and may extend the time it takes some homeowners to recover the cost of their investment.

“The Net Metering Program needs to be more inviting and promoted, not eliminated.”

That should be especially obvious when British Columbia needs more electricity.

BC Hydro expects electricity demand to increase by 15 per cent by 2030. The province is asking for new power generation while simultaneously making it less financially attractive for ordinary British Columbians to produce electricity from their own homes.

Those two directions do not make sense together.

Changes like this—introduced less than two years after government began offering rebates to encourage solar installations—are the kind of decisions that undermine public confidence in government incentives.

People make long-term financial decisions based on the programs and rules placed in front of them. A rebate may help with the initial cost, but a solar installation is still a significant personal investment expected to provide value for many years.

When those rules are changed shortly after an incentive is introduced, people are left wondering whether they can trust the next government rebate or affordability program being offered to them.

A serious electricity plan would provide stable and predictable rules. It would recognize British Columbians willing to invest their own money in producing electricity as partners in strengthening our province’s supply.

At a time when B.C. needs more power, we should not be creating new reasons for families to reconsider solar. We should be encouraging people who are prepared to make that investment—not changing the rules after the money has been spent.