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2003 Legislative Session: 4th Session, 37th Parliament

FIRST READING

The following electronic version is for informational

purposes only.

The printed version remains the official version.

HONOURABLE RICHARD NEUFELD

MINISTER OF ENERGY AND MINES

BILL 85 – 2003

BC HYDRO PUBLIC POWER LEGACY AND

HERITAGE CONTRACT ACT

Contents

Section

Definitions

Sale of protected assets prohibited

Heritage contract

Power to make regulations

Repeal

Transitional

Schedule

HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

Definitions

1 In this Act:

"authority" has the same meaning as in the Hydro and Power Authority Act ;

"commission" has the same meaning as in the Utilities Commission Act ;

"protected assets" means any of the following in respect of which, on the date on which this Act receives First Reading in the Legislative Assembly, a certificate of public convenience and necessity has been granted, or has been deemed to have been granted, to the authority under the Utilities Commission Act :

(

a) those generation and storage assets identified in the

Schedule to this Act;

(

b) equipment or facilities for the transmission or distribution of electricity;

"reference" means the request for recommendations made under Order in Council 253/2003;

"service" has the same meaning as in the Utilities Commission Act .

Sale of protected assets prohibited

(1) Subject to subsection (2), the authority must not sell or otherwise dispose of the protected assets.

(2) Nothing in subsection (1) prevents the authority from disposing of protected assets if

(

a) the assets disposed of are no longer fit for their intended purpose,

(

b) the assets disposed of are no longer used or useful,

(

c) the assets disposed of are to be replaced with one or more assets that will perform similar functions, or

(

d) the disposition is in accordance with one or more of the agreements designated by the Lieutenant Governor in Council under

section 3 of the Transmission Corporation Act .

Heritage contract

3 Without limiting any other obligation of the commission or the authority,

(

a) the commission must, when setting rates of the authority, comply with any regulations, including, without limitation, any general or special directions, made by the Lieutenant Governor in Council under this Act, and

(

b) the authority must provide the service required by the regulations made under this Act, in accordance with

(ii) the rates set by the commission in accordance with 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) of this section,

section 3 of the Utilities Commission Act or

section 35 of the Hydro and Power Authority Act , the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make any regulations the Lieutenant Governor in Council considers necessary or advisable to respond to the recommendations made by the commission in response to the reference, including, without limitation, any of the following regulations:

(

a) to amend any regulation made under any of the Utilities Commission Act , the Hydro and Power Authority Act and the Transmission Corporation Act ;

(

b) to issue directions to the commission specifying the factors, criteria and guidelines that the commission must or must not use in regulating and setting rates for the authority that are applicable to the service referred to in

section 3 (

b) of this Act.

Repeal

5 The Hydro and Power Authority Privatization Act is repealed.

Transitional

(1) Despite

section 24 (3) of the Hydro and Power Authority Privatization Act , as it read before the coming into force of this Act, any designation under which Terasen Inc. or Terasen Gas Inc. or any of their respective predecessors is or became a special company under

Part 2 of the Hydro and Power Authority Privatization Act is revoked.

(2) Without limiting subsection (1), none of the provisions of

Part 2 of the Hydro and Power Authority Privatization Act as it read before the coming into force of this Act apply to Terasen Inc. or to Terasen Gas Inc.

Schedule

Those generation and storage assets commonly known as the following:

Aberfeldie

La Joie

Alouette

Ladore

Ash River

Mica

Bridge River

Peace Canyon

Buntzen/Coquitlam

Prince Rupert

Burrard Thermal

Puntledge

Cheakamus

Revelstoke

Clowhom

Ruskin

Duncan

Seton

Elko

Seven Mile

Falls River

Shuswap

Fort Nelson

Spillimacheen

G. M. Shrum

Stave Falls

Hugh Keenleyside Dam (Arrow Reservoir)

Wahleach

John Hart

Walter Hardman

Jordan

Whatshan

Kootenay Canal

Explanatory Note

This Bill

confirms that the generation , storage, transmission and distribution assets of British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority identified in the Bill are not to be sold or disposed of unless those assets are no longer fit for purpose, are no longer used or useful or are to be replaced with assets that fulfill a similar function, or unless the sale or disposition is in accordance with agreements designated under the Transmission Corporation Act ;

directs the Utilities Commission and British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority to comply with the regulations of the Lieutenant Governor in Council respecting the service that, under this Act, is to be provided by British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority;

allows the Lieutenant Governor in Council to make regulations to respond to the recommendations the commission may make in response to the request for recommendations made under Order in Council 253/2003;

repeals the Hydro and Power Authority Privatization Act , revokes the designations of Terasen Inc. and Terasen Gas Inc. as special companies under that Act and removes any application of

Part 2 of that Act to those companies.

Copyright (c) 2003: Queen's Printer, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada