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VANCOUVER – BC Hydro today announced its second quarter results  [PDF, 603 Kb] for fiscal 2008, reporting a consolidated net income of $157 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2007, $47 million lower than the previous year, due to lower trade income and higher amortization expense.

"Overall, our results for the second quarter of fiscal 2008 are in line with expectations," said Alister Cowan, BC Hydro Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer. "Our capital expenditures increased significantly as we continue to focus on expanding our system to meet increased demand and upgrade aging assets nearing the end of their life. BC Hydro's net income forecast for fiscal 2008 continues to be approximately $365 million."

Key financial highlights of the second quarter include:

• Domestic revenues of $667 million were $40 million higher than the same quarter last year, primarily arising from strong demand in the residential sectors as 26,241 new customers were added and also due to sales of surplus energy as BC Hydro continued to manage its reservoir levels and avoid spilling water under a period of very high water inflows. This was offset by a reduction in load requirements from several large industrial customers reducing their consumption during the quarter due to the coastal forestry strike.
• Water inflows were 114 per cent of average, which increased hydro generation and in turn reduced the requirement for market energy purchases to meet customer demand. BC Hydro customers benefit from this by a reduction in the amount still to be paid by customers for higher market energy purchases in prior years due to low water inflows.
• Capital expenditures of $264 million were $72 million higher than the previous year due to work performed on BC Hydro heritage generating assets, including seismic upgrades at two sites, capacity improvements, stator and rotor pole replacements, and transmission expenditures for replacement and reinforcement work on the Vancouver Island transmission connection to meet growing customer demand.
• Energy saved through Power Smart programs surpassed expectations and continued to deliver cost-effective energy savings, producing annual cumulative energy savings of 2,603 GWh.

Other non-financial highlights for the second quarter include:

• BC Hydro filed a new Electricity Purchase Agreement with Alcan in September, addressing the concerns previously expressed by the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) by providing lower prices, extended terms and an increase in capacity and scheduling services.
• The BCUC responded to BC Hydro's Rate Design Application with direction to change the proposed cost of service model and implement a rebalancing of rates over three years so that revenues from each customer class exactly match costs incurred to serve each class.

Contact:

Gillian Robinson Riddell

Media Relations

Phone: 604 623-4022

gillian.robinson@bchydro.com