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VANCOUVER – BC Hydro today announced its third quarter results [PDF, 562 Kb] for fiscal 2008, reporting a consolidated net income of $188-million for the quarter ended December 31, 2007, $12-million higher than the previous year.

"Overall, our results for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 are in line with expectations. Continuing high water inflows allowed us to lower costs by reducing market purchases for the benefit of customers in future years," 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 distribution and generation capacity to meet increased demand and upgrade ageing assets nearing the end of their life. BC Hydro's net income forecast for fiscal 2008 is $370-million, slightly higher than the budget of $365-million."

Key financial highlights of the third quarter include:

• Domestic revenues of $774-million were $50-million higher than last year, primarily arising from strong demand in the residential sector as 31,293 new customers were added to the system. 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 and reduced demand for lumber in the U.S. housing sector.
• 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 $287-million were $87-million higher than the previous year due to the work performed to improve system resiliency in preparation for the winter storm season, work on the fifth Revelstoke turbine unit, stator and rotor pole replacements, reinforcement work, 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 energy savings of 2,671 GWh, approximately 5 per cent of our estimated 2008 energy demand.