2022 Bulletin Index - January to April
We periodically post bulletins here to inform customers of developments within BC Hydro Transmission and/or the industry and/or to solicit feedback on policy changes. These announcements can be time sensitive, so please subscribe for the updates.
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Our Transmission Scheduling bulletins for 2022 are listed below. Select another year to the right to view bulletins from the archive.
View the 2022 bulletins
Firm Sales to Alberta Long Term PTP Transmission Priority Queue
Posted on May 2, 8:10 p.m
The Firm Sales to Alberta Long Term PTP Transmission Priority Queue has been revised. Previous version of the updates can be viewed at Archived LTPTP Transmission Queue Updates.
Firm Sales to Alberta Long Term PTP Transmission Priority Queue
Posted on April 19, 1:30 p.m
The Firm Sales to Alberta Long Term PTP Transmission Priority Queue has been revised. Previous version of the updates can be viewed at Archived LTPTP Transmission Queue Updates.
Extended Windows for Good Friday
Posted on April 8, 2:20 p.m.
BC Hydro is pleased to visually clarify the opening of extended windows [PDF, 48 KB] for purchasing transmission for Good Friday, April 15, 2022.
Firm Sales to Alberta Long Term PTP Transmission Priority Queue
Posted on April 5, 5:00 p.m
The Firm Sales to Alberta Long Term PTP Transmission Priority Queue has been revised. Previous version of the updates can be viewed at Archived LTPTP Transmission Queue Updates.
Firm Sales to Alberta Long Term PTP Transmission Priority Queue
Posted on April 1, 5:00 p.m
The Firm Sales to Alberta Long Term PTP Transmission Priority Queue has been revised. Previous version of the updates can be viewed at Archived LTPTP Transmission Queue Updates.
Proposed Change to Counterflow – Open Access Transmission
Tariff (OATT) Attachment C Amendments Application – Methodology to Assess Available Transfer Capability
Posted on March 17, 9:40 a.m
Further to .the bulletin posted on September 29, 2021, the BCUC issued Order No. G-73-22 approving Amendments to Attachment C of the Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT) including Reasons for Decision. Additional information can be found on the application website, including the Application, Orders and all process documents.
BC Hydro will re-post the amended Business Practice, as posted on August 10, 2021, with its effective date as we near conclusion of implementation of the provision in our business system.
F2023-F2025 Revenue Requirements Application – Approved Interim Rate Pages
Posted on March 16, 9:00 a.m
Further to the bulletin posted on September 8, 2021, BCUC Orders G-40-22 and G-47-22 approved interim rates for BC Hydro’s electric tariff and OATT. The executed tariff pages start on page 110 for OATT Attachment H, Schedule 00, Schedule 01, and Schedule 03.
Firm Sales to Alberta Long Term PTP Transmission Priority Queue
Posted on March 8, 11:45 a.m
The Firm Sales to Alberta Long Term PTP Transmission Priority Queue has been revised. Previous version of the updates can be viewed at Archived LTPTP Transmission Queue Updates.
Business System Maintenance Outage - VPN firewall upgrade - Reminder
Posted on March 4, 9:45 a.m
On March 4, 2022 between 10:10 am to 10:30 am PPT, BC hydro is upgrading its VPN firewall. This will result in interruption of automatic validation of TSRs and eTags in webSmartOASIS and webSmartTag. Consequently, BC Hydro encourages its customers to schedule around this outage. Please contact Brenda Ambrosi at 604-312-7391 if you experience any issues.
Business System Maintenance Outage - VPN firewall upgrade
Posted on February 28, 3:45 p.m
On March 4, 2022 between 10:10 am to 10:30 am PPT, BC hydro is upgrading its VPN firewall. This will result in interruption of automatic validation of TSRs and eTags in webSmartOASIS and webSmartTag. Consequently, BC Hydro encourages its customers to schedule around this outage. Please contact Brenda Ambrosi at 604-312-7391 if you experience any issues.
Firm Sales to Alberta Long Term PTP Transmission Priority Queue
Posted on February 22, 11:50 a.m
The Firm Sales to Alberta Long Term PTP Transmission Priority Queue has been revised. Previous version of the updates can be viewed at Archived LTPTP Transmission Queue Updates.
OATT Generator Interconnection Amendments Application - Timetable
Posted on February 15, 3:20 p.m.
Further to the bulletin posted on February 15, 8:40am, regarding BC Hydro’s OATT Generator Interconnection Amendments Application submission, BCUC has established a regulatory timetable through Order G-33-22, as follows:
Subject |
Date |
BC Hydro Notice of Application |
Tuesday, February 22, 2022 |
Intervener Registration |
Tuesday, March 1, 2022 |
BCUC Information Request (IR) No. 1 |
Thursday, March 17, 2022 |
Intervener IR No. 1 |
Thursday, March 24, 2022 |
BC Hydro Responses to BCUC and Intervener IR No.1 |
Thursday, April 21, 2022 |
Deadline to submit Letters of Comment |
Thursday, April 28, 2022 |
Further information can be found on the BCUC Proceedings website, including the Application, BCUC orders, and the Regulatory Timetable as they become available:
https://www.bcuc.com/OurWork/ViewProceeding?ApplicationId=976
OATT Generator Interconnection Amendments Application
Posted on February 15, 8:40 a.m.
On January 27, 2022, British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority (BC Hydro) filed an Application with the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) seeking approval to:
(i) amend the Standard Generator Interconnection Procedures (including five appendices), which together form Attachment M-1 of BC Hydro’s Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT);
(ii) amend OATT Ancillary Services Rate Schedule 05 – Regulation and Frequency Response Service;
(iii) amend OATT Attachment B – Form of Service Agreement for Long-Term Firm Point-to-Point Transmission Service;
(iv) amend OATT Attachment L – Creditworthiness Provisions; and
(v) make housekeeping amendments of non-material nature
Further information can be found on the BCUC Proceedings website, including the Application, BCUC orders, and the Regulatory Timetable as they become available:
https://www.bcuc.com/OurWork/ViewProceeding?ApplicationId=976
Extended Windows for Presidents' Day
Posted on February 10, 4:10 p.m.
BC Hydro is pleased to visually clarify the opening of extended windows [PDF, 48 KB] for purchasing transmission for Presidents' Day, Monday, February 21, 2022.
Firm Sales to Alberta Long Term PTP Transmission Priority Queue
Posted on February 8, 10:30 a.m
The Firm Sales to Alberta Long Term PTP Transmission Priority Queue has been revised. Previous version of the updates can be viewed at Archived LTPTP Transmission Queue Updates.
Network Economy Test Results - February 2, 2022
Posted on January 31, 5:59 p.m.
Network Economy Test Results for February 2, 2022 [PDF, 11 KB] did not post. Please reference this bulletin for the correct test results.
Firm Sales to Alberta Long Term PTP Transmission Priority Queue
Posted on January 21, 1:15 p.m
The Firm Sales to Alberta Long Term PTP Transmission Priority Queue has been revised. Previous version of the updates can be viewed at Archived LTPTP Transmission Queue Updates.
BC Hydro: OATT Generator Interconnection Amendments Application
Posted on January 11, 11:00 a.m
On December 03, 2021, BC Hydro issued a bulletin advising that it intends to file an application (Application) with the British ColumbiaUtilities Commission in early 2022 to:
(i) amend Standard Generator Interconnection Procedures (including five appendices), which together form Attachment M-1 of BC Hydro’s Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT); and
(ii) amend OATT Ancillary Services Rate Schedule 05 – Regulation and Frequency Response Service;
(iii) amend OATT Attachment B – Form of Service Agreement for Long-Term Firm Point-to-Point Transmission Service;
(iv) amend OATT Attachment L – Creditworthiness Provisions; and
(v) make housekeeping amendments of non-material nature (e.g. page numbering and tables of contents).
BC Hydro requested input on the proposed amendments and received a response from Evolugen on December 17, 2021, which included the following questions and comments:
1) With respect to the proposed amendments to OATT Attachment M-1:
a) The proposed amendments in 3.3 Utilization of Surplus Interconnection Service and elsewhere might affect IPPs looking to re-power, uprate, export, and/or modify an existing interconnected asset (e.g. adding storage or modifying metering arrangements). We invite BC Hydro to meet with asset owners such as Evolugen to discuss how the OATT could further enable the optimization of our assets. We also recommend that BC Hydro reinitiate its Electricity supply options consultation with a focus on enabling private developers to invest in emerging technology such as storage and hydrogen production and utilization.
2) With respect to the proposed amendments to Attachment B – Form of Service Agreement for Long-Term Firm Point-To-Point Transmission Service:
a) Please clarify whether the proposed amendments would guarantee the exercise of rollover rights even when there would be insufficient capacity to accommodate said rights. If yes, please clarify how BC Hydro would resolve the deficit situation when there would be different transmission rights holders, each holding different transmission rights of various lengths, yet not enough capacity for all.
b) Please clarify whether BC Hydro has conflict of interest policies in place, similar to FERC’s Standards of Conduct for Transmission Providers, to ensure fairness and transparency as it awards and curtails transmission rights to its
customers.
3) With respect to the proposed amendments to Attachment L -Creditworthiness Provisions:
a) We do not support that security should be provided at least 10 business days prior to the commencement of service in lieu of 5: posting security often involves third-party service providers that are out of the Transmission Customer’s control. This particular amendment would reduce the flexibility for Transmission Customers to conduct business with BC Hydro.
b) While we support adding “flexibility regarding the amount of security and terms that are acceptable to BC Hydro,” please elaborate on how the proposed amendments would provide such flexibility.
BC Hydro provides our responses to these questions and comments below:
1) a) BC Hydro is available to meet with Customers, Eligible customers and potential generator interconnections customers to discuss the provisions of the OATT. BC Hydro notes that the Generator Interconnection Amendments Application will be filed by BC Hydro in its capacity as Transmission Provider, which is functionally separate from other parts of BC Hydro, such as BC Hydro’s roles as integrated utility and purchaser and seller of electric energy. For matters such as the participation of independent power producers in BC Hydro’s electricity supply options, BC Hydro directs Evolugen to its Integrated Resource Plan, which was filed with the BCUC on December 21, 2021, and the resulting regulatory process as established by the BCUC at:
https://www.bcuc.com/OurWork/ViewProceeding?ApplicationId=965.
2) a) No, the proposed amendments would not guarantee the exercise of rollover rights even when there would be insufficient capacity to accommodate those rights. Rather, the proposed amendments to Attachment B provide the Transmission Provider with the flexibility to determine after the execution of the Service Agreement, whether a roll-over right can be accommodated if it is not definitively known at the time the Service Agreement is executed whether there is sufficient capacity. Note that if this option under the proposed amendments was chosen, and sufficient capacity did become available, the Transmission Customer must submit a roll-over Transmission Service Request no less than 1 year prior to the end of the executed Service Agreement to exercise the roll-over right as per section 2.2 of BC Hydro’s OATT.
Absent the proposed amendments, the only option in the form of service agreement that can be selected if it is not known whether roll-over rights can be accommodated is 5(b), which states: “there is insufficient capacity to accommodate both the future rollover of this Service Agreement by the Transmission Customer and transmission service to Transmission Customers having earlier priority. Therefore, even if there is sufficient capacity at the end of the contract term of this Service Agreement, the Transmission Customer has no rollover rights with respect to this Service Agreement…”
2) b) Yes. BC Hydro operates functionally separate entities in its roles as Transmission Provider under the OATT and as an Integrated Electric Utility. BCPS (the entity code for BC Hydro Generation System Operations) is one of BCHA’s (the entity code for BC Hydro Transmission Provider) Transmission Customers under the OATT. BCHA, as the Transmission Provider, administers the OATT and is obligated to provide access to its transmission system to all Transmission Customers in a manner that is not unduly discriminatory or preferential, including its own related generation customer and marketing affiliate. BC Hydro Generation System Operations is also an Interconnection Customer under the Standard Generator Interconnection Procedures in OATT Attachment M-1 and follows the same procedures as all other Interconnection Customers for connecting generators to the transmission system.
BCHA and BCPS are functionally separate divisions under BC Hydro’s Standards of Conduct (SOC) requirements, which are based on FERC requirements. At a high level, the purpose of the SOC is to protect against discrimination by a Transmission Provider in the provision of wholesale transmission services by ensuring that its related employees that are designated as “marketing function employees” do not preferentially receive certain non-public transmission information. The BCUC approved BC Hydro’s current SOC on June 24, 2020 under Order No. G-111-10 and these standards came into force on July 5, 2010.
BC Hydro’s SOC is posted online: https://www.bchydro.com/toolbar/about/who_we_are/corporate_citizenship/standards_of_conduct_transmission.html
3) a) BC Hydro proposes to lengthen the time for providing security and/or prepayment from five business days prior to the commencement of service or at the time when the Customer makes the request for transmission service, to ten business days prior to the commencement of service. In BC Hydro’s experience, five or fewer business days is often insufficient to process the security and prepayment, and to work with the customer should any issues arise before commencement of service. The typical process involves administrative checks with other BC Hydro departments, such as BC Hydro Treasury and Accounts Receivable to verify the required documents, such as a corporate guarantee, letter of credit, confirmation of payment, service agreement(s) and umbrella agreement(s) (if applicable)). Should issues arise, BC Hydro needs to work directly with the customer to resolve any issues. There are also times when account setup and Customer training is required before the commencement of service.
However, as discussed in the bulletin and below, BC Hydro also proposes amendments to provide BC Hydro discretion to accept security and prepayment if it is considered acceptable.
3) b) The proposed amendments provide such flexibility by allowing BC Hydro to accept security and/or prepayment amounts that it considers to be acceptable within an adequate timeline. This would allow the Transmission Customer and BC Hydro to address non-standard forms of security and/or prepayment on a case-by-case basis.
Parties interested in being notified of BC Hydro activities related to this Application are encouraged to subscribe to receive automatic notifications of bulletins via email in the Stay Informed section of BC Hydro’s transmission webpage.
Firm Sales to Alberta Long Term PTP Transmission Priority Queue
Posted on January 5, 1:03 p.m
The Firm Sales to Alberta Long Term PTP Transmission Priority Queue has been revised. Previous version of the updates can be viewed at Archived LTPTP Transmission Queue Updates.