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1997 Legislative Session: 2nd Session, 36th Parliament

THIRD READING

The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.

The printed version remains the official version.

Certified correct as passed Third Reading on the 28th day of July, 1997

Ian D. Izard, Law Clerk

HONOURABLE DAN MILLER

MINISTER OF EMPLOYMENT

AND INVESTMENT

BILL 50 – 1997

POWER FOR JOBS DEVELOPMENT ACT

Contents

Section

Part 1 – Introductory Provisions

Definitions

Purpose

Part 2 – Provision of Electrical Power

Development power rates

Considerations of Lieutenant Governor in Council

Terms of orders

Customers outside the area of the authority

Effect of development power rates

Application to the administrator

Part 3 – Power for Jobs Administrator

Administrator's mandate

Considerations administrator is to consider

Confidentiality

No testimony in civil action

Report to Lieutenant Governor in Council

Part 4 – General Provisions

Offence

Power to make regulations

Commencement

HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province

of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

Part 1 – Introductory Provisions

Definitions

1 In this Act:

"administrator" means an officer or employee of

the ministry or of a government body, within the meaning of the Financial

Administration Act , designated as the Power for Jobs Administrator

by the minister;

"authority" means the British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority and includes

a subsidiary of the British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority;

"business" means an individual, partnership, corporation or other organization

carrying on, in British Columbia, a trade, enterprise, calling or undertaking or

preparing to do so;

"Canadian entitlement" means the Canadian share of downstream power benefits

as determined under

Article VII of the Treaty between Canada and the United

States of America relating to Cooperative Development of the Water Resources

of the Columbia River Basin;

"customer" means a business that, for the operation of a plant or for any other

economic activity, purchases electricity in an amount that exceeds 35 kW

annually;

"development power rate" means

(

a) a rate that is payable to the authority or the government by a business in

respect of which an order is made under

section 3 for one or both of surplus

electricity and the delivery of that surplus electricity, or

(

b) a rate that is payable to a public utility or to a municipality or regional

district by a business in respect of which an order is made under

section 6

for one or both of surplus electricity and the delivery of that surplus

electricity;

"Job Protection Commissioner" means the Job Protection Commissioner

appointed under the Job Protection Act ;

"public utility" has the same meaning as in the Utilities Commission Act ;

"rate" includes

(

a) a general, individual or joint rate, fare, toll, charge, rental or other compensation of a public utility or of the government,

(

b) a rule, practice, measurement, classification or contract of a public utility,

the government or a corporation relating to a rate, and

(

c) a

schedule or tariff respecting a rate;

"supply" includes wheeling by the authority of surplus electricity that is a portion of

the Canadian entitlement;

"surplus electricity" means electricity that is one or both of the following:

(

a) surplus to the authority's requirements to supply

(

i) customers in the authority's service area, and

(ii) electricity in respect of which removal is permitted under the Utilities

Commission Act and that is either

(

A) produced at a hydroelectric generating facility owned by the

authority, or

(

B) purchased by the authority from another source;

(

b) a portion of the Canadian entitlement that the Lieutenant Governor in

Council determines may be made available from time to time for the

purpose of this Act.

Purpose

2 The purpose of this Act is to help ensure that British Columbia's electric power

resources contribute to the creation and retention of jobs in British Columbia and to

regional economic development.

Part 2 – Provision of Electrical Power

Development power rates

3 On application by any business and despite the rate charged by the authority for the

supply of electricity to the business, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may order

that surplus electricity be supplied to, and a development power rate applies to some

or all of the supply of electricity to, that business if the application is consistent with

the criteria prescribed under

section 15 (2) (

a) and if

(

a) the business proposes to construct or expand a plant or to expand operations

in the authority's service area, the proposed plant or expansion will have the

effect of expanding employment and the business would, after completion

of the plant or expansion, fall within the definition of "customer", or

(

b) the business is a customer that requires financial assistance to maintain

(

i) the ongoing viability of the business's plant or operations, and

(ii) the continued employment of persons.

Considerations of Lieutenant Governor in Council

4 Before making an order under

section 3 or 6 in respect of a business, the Lieutenant

Governor in Council may consider any recommendations made by the administrator

in relation to the business' application.

Terms of orders

5 An order in relation to a business under

section 3 or 6 may contain terms that the

Lieutenant Governor in Council considers advisable, including, without limitation,

terms

(

a) specifying the amount of surplus electricity that is to be supplied to the

business and the amount of that surplus electricity that is to be supplied at a

development power rate,

(

b) setting the development power rate for the surplus electricity to be supplied

to the business, and

(

c) specifying the period or periods during which the surplus electricity is to be

supplied or the development power rate is to be applicable.

Customers outside the area of the authority

(1) On application by a business, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may, by order,

authorize the authority to dispose of surplus electricity to another public utility to

enable the public utility to supply electricity to the business for the purpose of a

plant or operations if

(

a) the plant is or the operations are located in the service area of that public

utility, and

(

b) the business would be eligible for an order under

section 3 were the plant or

operations located in the service area of the authority.

(2) If electricity is supplied to a public utility under subsection (1), the Lieutenant

Governor in Council may order that the public utility supply some or all of the

electricity to that business at a development power rate.

(3) If a municipality or regional district supplies electricity to customers within its

own boundaries, an order may be made under subsections (1) and (2) in respect

of that service as though the municipality or regional district were a public utility

referred to in subsection (1).

Effect of development power rates

(1) If there is a conflict between the rates of the authority and an order made under

section 3 or 6, the order prevails.

(2) A development power rate that is payable in accordance with the terms of an

order made under

section 3 or 6 is applicable, despite sections 61 (3) and 63 and

Part 5 of the Utilities Commission Act .

(3) The British Columbia Utilities Commission does not have jurisdiction under

section 58 (1) and (2), 59 (4), 64 (1) or

Part 5 of the Utilities Commission Act in

respect of a development power rate.

(4) A development power rate

(

a) is lawful, enforceable and collectable, and

(

b) is not a rate to which

section 59 (1) of the Utilities Commission Act applies.

(5) The government, the authority and any public utility are not subject to

Part 3 or

Part 5 of the Utilities Commission Act in relation to any matter arising out of the

supply of electricity with respect to which an order has been made under

section

3 or 6 of this Act, unless the Lieutenant Governor in Council orders that a

provision of

Part 3 or

Part 5 of the Utilities Commission Act that the Lieutenant

Governor in Council specifies applies with respect to that matter.

(6) If there is any conflict or inconsistency between

(

a) an order made under

section 6 (1) and (2) for the purposes of

section 6 (3),

and

(

b) sections 601 to 603 of the Municipal Act ,

or any bylaw made under those sections,

the order made under

section 6 (1) and (2) prevails.

(7) The wholesale transmission rates otherwise payable by those customers of the

authority that transmit power under published wholesale transmission rates must

not be altered to compensate for

(

a) an order made under

section 3 or 6, or

(

b) any reduction in the wholesale transmission revenue requirement resulting

from that order.

Application to the administrator

8 A business wishing to be considered for an order under

section 3 or 6 must apply to

the administrator for that order.

Part 3 – Power for Jobs Administrator

Administrator's mandate

(1) If the Lieutenant Governor in Council determines that surplus electricity may be

made available under this Act, the minister may notify the administrator of

(

a) the projected amount and duration of supply of that surplus electricity,

(

b) any criteria, additional to the application evaluation criteria prescribed

under

section 15 (2) (a), that the Lieutenant Governor in Council intends to

use in assessing applications for that surplus electricity, and

(

c) the manner in which the assessment required under subsection (2) is to be

completed.

(2) After receiving notification under subsection (1), the administrator must assess if

and to which businesses the surplus electricity should be provided.

(3) In conducting an assessment under subsection (2), the administrator,

(

a) if notified by the minister under subsection (1) (

c) as to the manner in which

the assessment is to be completed, must conduct the assessment in

accordance with that manner, or

(

b) in any other case, may use any method that the administrator considers

advisable to effect the assessment, including, without limitation, any one or

more of the following:

(

i) advertising the amount of surplus electricity that may be made

available by the Lieutenant Governor in Council;

(ii) preparing a request for proposals and distributing it to any businesses

that the administrator considers appropriate;

(iii) using auction processes;

(iv) negotiating with businesses;

(

v) conducting financial or other evaluations of solicited and unsolicited

proposals.

(4) If the administrator issues a request for proposals in respect of surplus electricity,

the administrator must include in the request for proposals the additional criteria,

if any, referred to in subsection (1) (

b) that the Lieutenant Governor in Council

intends to use in assessing proposals or other applications for that surplus

electricity.

(5) After receiving a proposal or other application for the provision to a business of

surplus electricity under this Act, whether or not that application is provided in

response to an action of the Lieutenant Governor in Council or the administrator,

the administrator must make recommendations to the minister as to whether the

application should be accepted and may suggest terms that the administrator

considers should be imposed on the supply of that surplus electricity.

(6) If a proposal or other application in respect of which recommendations are made

under subsection (5) appears to the minister to be consistent with the criteria to

be applied by the Lieutenant Governor in Council in assessing the application, the

minister is to provide the application and the recommendations of the administrator to the Lieutenant Governor in Council for assessment.

(7) The minister is to notify the administrator as to the disposition of the application

and the administrator must notify the applicant as to that disposition.

(8) The administrator may, when invited to do so by the Job Protection Commissioner and authorized to do so by the minister, consult with the Job Protection

Commissioner in respect of any economic plan made or proposed under the Job

Protection Act and may, if it appears appropriate to do so, recommend to the

Lieutenant Governor in Council that an order be made under

section 3 or 6 of this

Act in order to assist in the economic plan.

Considerations administrator is to consider

10 In carrying out the mandate under

section 9, the administrator is to give due consideration to economic, environmental and societal interests including, without limitation,

(

a) any new employment relationships that may be established as a result of this

Act,

(

b) government objectives with respect to employment equity,

(

c) the economic importance of a business to British Columbia or to a region or

locality within British Columbia, and

(

d) the purpose of this Act.

Confidentiality

11 The administrator and every other person who has custody of or access to records or

information provided by a business in a proposal or other application provided to the

administrator under this Act must not disclose the records or information to any

person except insofar as disclosure is

(

a) necessary for the purposes of this Act,

(

b) required by a court proceeding relating to this Act, or

(

c) for the purposes of the compilation and publication of statistical

information by the government.

No testimony in civil action

12 The administrator is not, in a civil action to which the administrator is not a party,

required to testify or produce evidence about records or information obtained in the

discharge of duties under this Act.

Report to Lieutenant Governor in Council

13 The administrator, in each year, must make to the Lieutenant Governor in Council a

report of the activities of the administrator for the preceding calendar year.

Part 4 – General Provisions

Offence

(1) A person who contravenes

section 11 commits an offence.

(2) Section 5 of the Offence Act does not apply in respect of this Act or the regulations.

Power to make regulations

(1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations referred to in

section 41 of the

Interpretation Act .

(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make

regulations

(

a) respecting the criteria that may be applied by the Lieutenant Governor in

Council in assessing a proposal or other application for an order under

section 3 or 6, including, without limitation, the tests that may be applied by

the Lieutenant Governor in Council in determining if and to what extent an

order may be made under those sections, and

(

b) prescribing the information that must be contained in a proposal or other

application under

section 3 or 6.

Commencement

16 This Act comes into force by regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

Copyright © 1997: Queen's Printer, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada