BC Hydro - History

History

BC Hydro was created in 1961 when the government of British Columbia, under Premier WAC Bennett, passed the BC Hydro Act. This act led to the amalgamation of BC Electric Company and the BC Power Commission, and the creation of the British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority (BCHPA).

The BC Power Commission was established with the Electric Power Act in 1945 by Premier John Hart. The mandate of the Power Commission was to amalgamate existing power and generating facilities across the province not served by BC Electric, and to extend service to the many smaller communities without power.

BC Electric Company began as the British Columbia Electric Railway (streetcar and lighting utility) in Victoria, Vancouver and New Westminster in 1897. Power was generated by coal-fired steam plants. Increasing demand in the Edwardian boom years meant BC Electric sought expansions through Hydro power at Buntzen Lake, and later at Stave Lake. Sensible growth and expansion of the power, streetcar and coal gas utilities meant that BC Electric was a major company in the region. An English financier named Robert Horne-Payne secured the funding and created the large company from what had been a patchwork of small regional electric railway and steam, hydro and diesel plants.

Also at this time, sawmills and factories converted to electricity, further increasing load. BC Electric erected more local hydro stations around the province. Similarly, small towns also built and operated their own power stations. More power transmission lines were built. Dams and hydro-electric generating stations were built on the Puntledge, Jordan River|, and Elk River in the 1920s.

BC Electric created one of the largest streetcar and interurban systems in the world with some 200 miles of track running from Point Grey to Chilliwack. There were both city street cars and interurban cars servicing Richmond, Burnaby, New Westminster, Vancouver, North Vancouver, and Victoria.

By the First World War, private cars and jitneys were beginning to affect streetcar traffic. The expansion of private automobile ownership in the 1920s further constrained the expansion of streetcar lines. New dams were planned, including the diversion from the Bridge River to Seton Lake, near Lillooet, but the economic depression of the 1930s restricted business expansion. Also with the depression came an increase in the ridership, and a decrease in the maintenance of the streetcar system.

In 1947 the BC Power Corporation completed John Hart Generating Station at Campbell River. In the early 1950s the ageing streetcars and interurban trains were replaced by electric trolley buses, and diesel buses. BC Electric finally completed the Bridge River Generating Station in 1960. BC Electric and later BC Hydro continued to operate the transit system by funding it with a small levy on the electric bill, until the transit system was taken over by BC Transit in 1980.

In 1958 BC Electric began construction of the Burrard Generating Station near Port Moody. It opened in 1961 and, although it is now fueled only by natural gas, and operated only intermittently when needed, it continues to generate controversy due to its proximity to Vancouver and its associated greenhouse gas emissions. In 2001 it represented over 9% of BC Hydro's gross metered generation.

On August 1, 1961, just days after company president Dal Grauer died, the BC government passed the legislation which changed BC Electric from a private company to a crown corporation known as BC Hydro. In 1988 BC Hydro sold its Gas Division which distributed natural gas in the lower mainland and Victoria to Inland Natural Gas. Inland was acquired by Terasen Gas in 1993.