BC Hydro Net Metering Changes 2026: What Every BC Solar Owner Needs to Know

BC Hydro Net Metering Changes 2026: What Every BC Solar Owner Needs to Know

Published: July 8, 2026 | Updated: July 8, 2026 | Reading time: 12 minutes | By: Solar Calculator Canada Research Team | Reviewed by: Solar Calculator Canada Editorial Team

This article explains a real regulatory decision by the BC Utilities Commission. It is not financial or legal advice. Confirm your own account details with BC Hydro before making a decision.

BC Hydro closed its Net Metering Service Rate (Rate Schedule 1289) to new self-generation customers on July 1, 2026. New solar customers, and any existing customer who accepted a BC Hydro solar rebate, now go on the Self Generation Service Rate (Rate Schedule 2289). Under that rate, surplus solar power sent to the grid is paid at a flat 10 cents per kWh and credited on your bill every billing cycle, instead of being banked as a kilowatt-hour credit and settled once a year. Existing net metering customers who never took the solar rebate keep their old rate for 10 years from their original net metering start date. The BC Utilities Commission approved the change on March 24, 2026.

Solar producers on Vancouver Island are pushing back on the change. CHEK News reported that Port Alberni homeowner Bill Collette, who installed 42 panels in 2023 and has not paid a hydro bill in more than two years, is hoping other solar owners speak up so BC Hydro reconsiders. In a follow-up story, Nanaimo-based Island Community Solar Co-op founder Ian Gartshore was blunter, telling CHEK "we're looking at a death knell for small scale solar." His co-op has asked the BCUC to reconsider the decision, arguing BC Hydro's cost math is wrong.

The change touches a lot of households: BC Hydro says close to 20,000 customers have joined the net metering program since it launched in 2004. BC Hydro's position, laid out by spokesperson Ted Olynyk in the same CHEK report, is that the utility was paying net metering exports more than the actual value of that electricity, and that the change brings the rate in line with what the power is actually worth once you account for the cost of buying and redistributing it.

Both things can be true at once. The rate for BC solar owners really did just get less generous, and BC Hydro's argument about cost recovery is the argument every regulator eventually has about net metering programs as they scale. This guide sticks to what changed, who it hits, and what you should actually do about it.

Think of the old system like a savings account. Every kilowatt-hour your panels sent to the grid got banked at close to the retail price you would have paid for that power. You could draw the balance down later, whenever you needed it, and once a year BC Hydro settled up.

The new system works more like a paycheque. Every kilowatt-hour you export gets paid out at a fixed 10 cents, right on your next bill. No banking, no waiting for an annual settlement, but also no chance for a stored credit to be worth the higher retail rate later.

For comparison, BC Hydro's standard residential tiered rate (Rate Schedule 1101) currently charges about 11.87 cents per kWh for the first roughly 1,350 kWh in a two-month billing period, and a fixed 14.08 cents per kWh above that. A flat 10 cent export credit is lower than both tiers. That gap, not the program's existence, is what solar owners are reacting to.

This is the part most coverage glosses over, and it is the part that matters most for your own bill.

You installed solar with no BC Hydro rebate, before July 1, 2026. You stay on the old net metering rate for 10 years counted from your original net metering start date, not from today. If you connected in 2021, you have roughly 5 years left on the old terms, not a fresh 10. After that window closes you move automatically to Rate Schedule 2289.

You accepted a BC Hydro solar rebate. You move to Rate Schedule 2289 as of July 1, 2026. If you received that rebate before the BCUC's March 24, 2026 decision, BC Hydro has offered a one-time option to repay the rebate and stay on the old net metering rate for up to 10 years from your original start date. For most households the math does not favour repaying a several-thousand-dollar rebate to protect a few cents per kWh of export value, but it is worth running your own numbers before assuming that. Some installers reported a June 30, 2026 deadline to apply for rebate repayment, which would mean this window has now closed. BC Hydro's own rate update page did not publish that date, so if you believe you qualify, contact BC Hydro directly rather than assuming the option is gone.

You are installing solar now, or applying for the first time. You go on Rate Schedule 2289 from day one. Your export rate is 10 cents per kWh, credited monthly or bi-monthly depending on your billing cycle.

You are part of a strata, co-op, or neighbourhood project. BC Hydro also introduced a Community Generation Service Rate (Rate Schedule 2290) in the same decision. A shared facility can supply up to 2 megawatts, with a net injection limit of 24 kW for each participating residential customer and 100 kW for each participating commercial customer, also credited at 10 cents per kWh. This is genuinely new. Nothing like it existed under the old program, and it opens a path for multi-unit buildings and community solar projects that could not previously access net metering as a group.

Say your 7 kW system, a common residential size in BC, produces about 7,700 kWh a year, which is in line with BC Hydro's own production estimate for a typical home array. Suppose 2,500 kWh of that gets exported rather than used on site.

Under the old net metering rate, that export was banked at up to 14.08 cents per kWh, worth roughly $352 a year in credit value.

Under the new self-generation rate, the same export is paid at a flat 10 cents per kWh, worth $250 a year, paid out across your bills instead of once a year.

That's about a $100 a year difference on this example system, and it shows up as a smaller number sooner rather than a bigger number later. Several BC solar installers have estimated that typical payback periods are shifting from roughly 9 to 12 years toward roughly 11 to 14 years under the new rate, though your actual result depends entirely on how much of your production you export versus use on site. That last point is the whole game now. A household that exports a large share of its production feels this change hard. A household that uses most of its solar power as it is produced barely notices it.

Under the old rate, exporting and using power on site were close to equal in value, both were worth close to the retail rate. Under the new rate, they are not equal at all. Power you use yourself still displaces electricity you would have paid 11.87 to 14.08 cents per kWh for. Power you export now earns only 10 cents. That 2 to 4 cent gap, multiplied across thousands of kilowatt-hours a year, is the new incentive structure in BC.

In practice this means two things for anyone sizing a system after July 1, 2026:

1. Right-size to your actual annual consumption rather than overbuilding. A system that produces far more than you use just ships more of your production out at the lower export rate.
2. Battery storage, which lets you shift midday solar into evening use instead of exporting it, is worth more to a BC household today than it was under the old rate. See our panels versus battery storage guide and our battery comparison guide for how that tradeoff plays out.

BC Hydro's stated rationale, per its spokesperson quoted by CHEK News, is straightforward: the utility believes it was paying net metering customers more for exported power than that power was actually worth once the cost of acquiring and redistributing electricity is factored in, particularly given that summer surplus is worth less to the system than winter demand. BC Hydro also points to the program's growth since it launched in 2004 as a reason the cost of continuing to pay retail value for exports would increasingly fall on non-solar ratepayers.

Solar advocates dispute the size of that subsidy, and the Island Community Solar Co-op has formally asked the BCUC to revisit its numbers. This is a live regulatory dispute, not a settled question, and homeowners and installers should expect further commentary from both sides as the BCUC's proceeding continues.

For broader context, this shift mirrors a pattern showing up across North American utilities: moving residential solar compensation away from simple annual export credits and toward rates that pay for power when and where the grid actually needs it. That is broader industry context, not a BC-specific finding, but it is useful to understand why this argument is happening in more places than just British Columbia.

If you already have solar and never took a rebate: confirm your original net metering start date with BC Hydro through MyHydro so you know exactly when your 10-year window closes. Mark it. Do not assume it is 10 years from 2026.

If you have solar and took the rebate: run the numbers on repaying it before assuming it is not worth it. Then plan around the fact that your exports are now worth 10 cents per kWh, not your retail rate.

If you are getting quotes right now: size the system to your household's real annual usage, not to maximize export volume, and ask every installer you talk to how they would design around a 10 cent export rate rather than a 1:1 credit. If they do not mention it unprompted, that is worth noting.

If you live in a strata, co-op, or multi-unit building: ask whether a shared facility under the new Community Generation Service Rate makes more sense than individual rooftop systems. This option did not exist before July 1, 2026.

Our free solar calculator models BC-specific rates so you can see your own payback estimate under the current rules before you commit to a system size.