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Managing Instead of Building: B.C. Hydro’s Role in the 1990s

This article provides an overview of the history of BC Hydro, including the development of Treaty projects.

“This paper explores the history and causal factors of this development. Its key argument is that much can be explained by trends that are common to electric utilities throughout industrialized countries. Because these trends originated primarily in the U.S., the paper contains a review of major developments in that country’s electric utility industry during the 1980s. Stricter environmental controls, along with economic and technical factors, have led utility resource planners to rethink their assumptions about economies of scale in electricity production. […] This paper is divided into six sections. Section 2 presents the economy of scale and economic development rationales for monopoly electric utilities in Canada. Section 3 explores the origins of the dramatic changes in the US electric utility industry in the 1980s. The British Columbia manifestations of these changes are detailed in Section 4. Section 5 surveys the implications and challenges presented by this new situation for the management and regulation of B.C.’s electricity system, especially for the role of B.C. Hydro over the next decade.” (Taken from introduction)

Note: the full text is not available in the CRTDL. For online availability, check: http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/1407/1451

Author: Jaccard, Markn Nyboer, John, Makinen, Timo
Publisher: BC Studies
Date: 1992

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