British Columbia Utilities Commission Approves System Expansion Fund For FortisBC Energy

In a recent decision, the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) approved a "System Extension Fund" of up to $1 million per year to assist eligible customers in low density areas to connect to the FortisBC Energy (FEI) gas distribution system. The approval is in the form of a four-year pilot program, under which FEI will provide funding of up to $10,000 to eligible customers to offset the "contributions in aid of construction" (CIAC) that they have to pay to FEI to make their connection economic. The System Extension Fund will be paid for by all ratepayers.

The BCUC's approval of the System Extension Fund was part of a larger review of FEI's system extension policies. On the broader issues, the BCUC largely accepted the existing tests and approach used to evaluate FEI's system extensions and agreed with FEI that changes should be made to some items, including aspects of the "mains extension test" that is used to evaluate and cost expansion projects.