Not Everyone is Paying More for Electricity in BC

There have been plenty of news stories over the last few days about various price increases that have been implemented this month.  One of them is a 3% increase in BC Hydro rates.  But not everyone is paying more.

Home owners and businesses who have purchased a photovoltaic system won’t see any increase in the price of the power they get from the sun.  Basically they have locked in the price when they purchased the system.  For a home owner purchasing a 5kW system the cost of the systems spread over its lifetime is about $0.10 / kWh.  That compares to $0.139 / kWh that BC Hydro residential customers are paying for the second tier.  The difference is even greater for larger systems.

For commercial customers who are purchasing power through a purchase power agreement with our subsidiary, Solshare Energy, prices have gone up this month as well.  But only 1.5% compared to the 3% increase they would see with BC Hydro.

Of course not everyone can afford to purchase a complete photovoltaic system or owns a suitable home for solar energy.  That is why we created Solshare Energy. Solshare allows BC residents to own a share of a larger photovoltaic system.  They don’t see a reduction in their bill.  However,  they do get paid annual dividends that allow them to benefit from the economics of solar energy.