On November 1, 2019, the British Columbia Utilities Commission
(the BCUC) released a draft report (the Draft Report) on its inquiry
respecting the regulation of Indigenous utilities (the Inquiry).
The Inquiry was instigated as a result of some recent decisions of
the BCUC relating to Indigenous owned utilities that raised
questions over whether they ought to be regulated differently under
the Utilities Commission Act (the UCA). We have set out
below some of the Draft Report's more notable recommendations
for the regulation of Indigenous utilities in BC.
For background, the government issued an Order
in Council in March 2019 directing the BCUC to advise on the
appropriate nature and scope, if any, of the regulation of
Indigenous utilities. The terms of reference for the Inquiry
required that the BCUC respond to specific questions, including
questions relating to the defining characteristics of Indigenous
utilities and whether Indigenous utilities should be
