The Energy Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 adds a new provision to the Hydro and Power Authority Act permitting the Lieutenant Governor in Council to designate agreements that create limited partnerships co‑owned by the provincial utility and First Nations for parts of the three‑phase North Coast transmission project. The designation power explicitly validates those agreements retroactively, deems the utility to have had the authority to enter and perform under them, and authorizes delegations and immunities necessary to operate co‑owned facilities.
The Act also replaces section 21.1 of the Utilities Commission Act to give cabinet broad rule‑making power over when and how public utilities may supply electricity for specific high‑demand uses: cryptocurrency mining, storing or processing electronic data (including AI data), and producing hydrogen intended for use outside Canada. Regulations can ban supply, set rates and limits, require competitive allocation processes, and permit cost recovery from customers — and regulations made under this new authority are given primacy over some prior commission orders and regulations.
At a Glance
What It Does
It authorizes cabinet to approve limited‑partnership ownership arrangements between the provincial utility and First Nations for defined segments of the North Coast transmission project and legally backfills the utility’s authority to enter those agreements. It also creates a new regulatory tool allowing cabinet to control electricity supply for cryptocurrency mining, data centres/AI processing and hydrogen export — including bans, rate setting, allocation mechanisms and cost pass‑throughs.
Who It Affects
Directly affects the provincial Hydro and Power Authority (BC Hydro), First Nations that may join limited partnerships, project contractors and financiers on the North Coast project, public utilities that supply electricity in BC, large electricity consumers such as crypto miners and data centres, and customers who may face cost recovery measures. The BC Utilities Commission’s role is altered where cabinet delegates or deems certain rates and orders.
Why It Matters
The bill changes how major transmission assets can be owned and governed — enabling equity participation by First Nations — while simultaneously giving executive government new tools to control high‑intensity electricity uses that can strain supply and rates. That combination reshapes project contracting, regulatory oversight and where cost risk ultimately lands.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The Act adds a targeted new provision to the Hydro and Power Authority Act defining three sequential phases of the North Coast transmission line and creating a legal mechanism for 'North Coast limited partnerships' in which the provincial utility and one or more First Nations can hold ownership interests. The Lieutenant Governor in Council (cabinet) may designate specific agreements as falling under this mechanism; once designated, the law treats the utility as if it always had the power to enter and perform under those agreements.
That includes validating delegations of authority, granting the utility the full panoply of powers and immunities under the Act while performing under the agreement, and making the agreement binding and enforceable against the utility.
On the regulatory side, the Act rewrites the Utilities Commission Act section that governs when a public utility may provide electricity for certain specified purposes. The statute now lists three 'listed purposes' — cryptocurrency mining, storing or processing electronic data (explicitly including AI data), and producing hydrogen for use outside Canada — and gives cabinet a sweeping regulation‑making power tied to those purposes.
Cabinet can set rules that prohibit supply (temporarily or permanently), set or require the commission to set specific rates and capacity limits for those uses, define eligibility and selection processes (including competitive allocations), and determine timing and conditions for service.The new authority also allows cabinet to define key terms (for example, what counts as 'mining' or what constitutes hydrogen 'for use outside Canada'), to delegate specific matters to the commission or a utility, and to craft different rules for different facilities or periods. Importantly, rates established under this authority are treated as commission orders, and other regulations made under the power can be deemed commission orders as well; the Act says these regulations apply despite certain prior regulations or orders.
Finally, the Act makes minor technical edits to cross‑references in the Utilities Commission Act and states that it comes into force on Royal Assent.
The Five Things You Need to Know
Section 12.1 lets cabinet designate agreements that create 'North Coast limited partnerships' in which the provincial utility and a First Nation jointly own parts of phases 1–3 of the North Coast transmission project.
A designation under section 12.1 retroactively deems the utility to have always had legal authority to enter, perform under and delegate powers pursuant to the designated agreement, and makes the agreement enforceable against the utility.
The replacement section 21.1 defines three 'listed purposes' for electricity supply: cryptocurrency mining; storing or processing electronic data (including AI data); and producing hydrogen for use outside Canada.
Cabinet may make regulations that ban electricity supply for a listed purpose, set or require the commission to set rates and capacity limits, require competitive selection processes for who may receive service, and establish eligibility criteria and terms of service.
Regulations under the new section 21.1 can authorize cost recovery from utility customers, are deemed to be or create commission orders in certain respects, and take precedence over specified prior regulations and orders.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Designate co‑ownership agreements and validate them retroactively
This provision defines the three geographic phases of the North Coast transmission project and authorizes cabinet to designate agreements that establish limited partnerships in which the utility and First Nations share ownership of parts of those phases. The key practical effect is legal certainty: designation treats the utility as if it always had power to enter and perform under the agreement, validates delegations of authority contained in the agreement, and makes the agreement binding on the utility. For project managers and financiers, that reduces legal risk around title and authority but shifts some questions about how assets are valued and transferred into the implementation phase.
Cabinet gains broad rule‑making power over electricity for crypto, data and hydrogen
Section 21.1 now creates 'listed purposes' and gives cabinet explicit power to make regulations touching almost every aspect of whether and how a public utility may supply electricity for those purposes. The mechanics cabinet may use include prohibitions, rate setting (or directing the commission to set rates), capacity limits, eligibility and competitive selection procedures, delegations to the commission or utilities, and definitions of key terms. The section also permits cabinet to permit utilities to recover costs or forecasted revenue losses from their customers when regulations affect service — a direct route for cost pass‑through to ratepayers.
Technical cross‑reference updates to align deeming provisions
The Act adjusts cross‑references in sections 99(2)(a) and 101(1)(b) to reflect that rates and other instruments created under the new section 21.1 are now deemed to be commission orders under different subsection numbers. These are technical but important for how the commission and courts will interpret which instruments carry the force of commission orders.
Immediate operation on Royal Assent
The Act states it comes into force on Royal Assent. That means once granted the provisions become law and cabinet acquires the powers described without a later proclamation date; practical implementation (orders, regulations, designations) still requires further executive action.
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Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- First Nations that join limited partnerships — they gain a direct ownership mechanism, a negotiated role in construction and operations, and a potential revenue and governance stake in the North Coast transmission project.
- Project proponents and contractors — the designation mechanism reduces retroactive legal uncertainty about the utility’s authority to transfer or share assets, which can make financing and contracting on the North Coast project more bankable.
- Provincial government (cabinet) — cabinet gains flexible tools to manage grid stress and industrial demand by directly shaping who can receive service and at what terms for high‑intensity users.
- Hydrogen exporters and large industrial users — if cabinet decides to permit and allocate supply, exporters producing hydrogen for use outside Canada could secure prioritized access or defined rates under new regulation.
Who Bears the Cost
- Ratepayers — regulations may permit utilities to recover costs or forecasted revenue losses from other customers, which can shift the cost of curtailed or preferential allocations onto general customers.
- Public utilities (e.g., BC Hydro) — they face new administrative burdens to implement selection processes, comply with cabinet regulations, potentially adjust existing contracts and manage asset transfers to limited partnerships.
- BC Utilities Commission (BCUC) — the commission’s independence and traditional role in setting rates and adjudicating supply disputes may be constrained where cabinet delegates matters or deems regulations to be commission orders.
- Private industry competitors — data centres, crypto miners or other industrial consumers not favored by a cabinet allocation risk losing access to power or facing higher costs if regulations limit supply to 'listed purposes.'
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The core tension is between enabling pragmatic, government‑led tools to drive infrastructure projects and industrial development (including Indigenous ownership and rapid management of high‑demand loads) and preserving independent, expert regulatory oversight and predictable cost allocation for utility customers; the bill solves for decisiveness at the expense of some procedural and institutional safeguards.
The bill combines two potent shifts: a route for equity participation by First Nations in transmission assets and a mechanism for the executive to control electricity allocation for a narrow set of high‑demand uses. That pairing raises practical and legal frictions.
The retroactive deeming language in section 12.1 reduces litigation risk about the utility’s authority but also leaves open questions about how asset transfers and valuations will be handled, how minority interests are protected, and whether pre‑existing contractual or Aboriginal rights issues might still generate disputes.
On the regulatory side, cabinets have been given unusually broad discretion to override or to be treated as equivalent to commission action. While that speeds politically directed responses to grid stress, it undercuts the BCUC’s adjudicative role and injects political judgment into rate and allocation decisions.
Allowing utilities to recover 'forecasted' revenue losses from customers could create contentious cost allocation decisions and disputes about forecasting methodologies. The bill also leaves several definitional matters to regulation — for example, what precise activities count as 'mining' cryptocurrency or what constitutes hydrogen 'for use outside Canada' — creating implementation uncertainty that will matter a great deal to industry and regulators.
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