Cost-of-living bill credit
The Government of B.C. announced in the fall of 2022 that eligible BC Hydro customers will receive a one-time bill credit to help manage expenses at critical time when global inflation is driving higher costs for families and businesses.
BC Hydro can provide the bill credit due to higher-than-anticipated customer electricity use over the last fiscal year and the resulting revenues.
Learn more about the credit:
For residential customers
Residential customers will receive a one-time bill credit of $100. The credit will be automatically applied to your next BC Hydro bill after December 4 and there’s no action you need to take.
A notification will appear in your MyHydro account and on your bill once it’s been applied.
You’re eligible for the credit if you had an active account as of October 1, 2022. The credit will be applied to eligible, active accounts after December 4, 2022.
Your account must be on an eligible residential rate:
- Residential Conservation Rate (Rate Schedules 1101 and 1121),
- Exempt Residential Service Rate (Rate Schedules 1151 and 1161), or
- Residential Rate – Zone II (Rate Schedules 1107, 1127 and 1148).
If you’re on one of these rates but electricity use is for strata common use, you’ll be eligible for the business bill credit instead.
This amount is equivalent to a full month of electricity charges for an average customer living in a detached home, or more than two months for an average customer living in an apartment.
There’s a limit of one bill credit per account holder.
If you have more than one residential account, the credit will be applied to the account with the highest electricity use over the last year.
If you moved and opened a new BC Hydro account at a new address, you’ll still receive the bill credit if you meet the eligibility criteria.
The bill credit is limited to BC Hydro account holders.
For business customers
Business customers will receive a one-time bill credit. For most business customers, the credit amount will range from about $350 to $500 and is determined based on your usage in proportion to all business customers.
The credit will be automatically applied to your next BC Hydro bill after December 18 and there’s no action you need to take.
A notification will appear in your MyHydro account and on your bill once it’s been applied.
You’re eligible for the credit if you have an active account as of October 1, 2022. The credit will be applied to eligible, active accounts after December 18, 2022.
Your account must be on an eligible rate:
- Small General Service Rate (Rate Schedule 1300, 1301, 1310, and 1311),
- Medium General Service Rate (Rate Schedule 1500, 1501, 1510, and 1511),
- Large General Service Rate (Rate Schedule 1600, 1601, 1610, and 1611),
- Irrigation Rate (Rate Schedule 1401)*,
- Exempt General Service Rate (Rate Schedule 1200, 1201, 1210, and 1211),
- General Service – Dual Fuel Rate (Rate Schedule 1205, 1206, and 1207),
- Small General Service Rate – Zone II (Rate Schedule 1234),
- General Service Rate – Zone II (Rate Schedule 1255, 1256, 1265 and 1266), or
- On a residential rate but electricity use is for strata common use.
The credit you’ll receive is proportional to your electricity use compared to the total electricity use of all eligible business customers. We looked at usage data from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022.
Demand Charge and Power Factor Surcharge are not considered.
The bill credit will be applied to each eligible business account.
If you moved your business and opened a new BC Hydro account at a new address, you’ll still receive the bill credit if you meet the eligibility criteria.
If you’re on the Irrigation Rate (Rate Schedule 1401), the credit will be applied to your account after December 18, 2022. It will show on your next bill in March 2023.
General information and scam warning
There’s no action required from you to receive this clean energy credit.
Be wary of scams. Scammers use a variety of tactics including text message and emails claiming to be from BC Hydro or Interac to offer credits, or refunds or rebates. They ask you to click on a link and provide your banking information.
If you’d like to verify that you’ve received the clean energy credit, you can check your next bill after December 4 (residential customers) or December 18 (business customers) to see that it’s been applied.
If you're ever unsure about whether a communication from BC Hydro is legitimate, don't click any links or open any files sent to you. Call our customer service team at 1 800 224 9376 for clarification.
You’re also eligible for the credit if you receive electricity service indirectly from BC Hydro through FortisBC, the City of New Westminster, and most other municipal utilities.
The credit will be provided by your utility (not BC Hydro), and it will take a bit longer to get to you – you’ll likely receive it in early 2023.
You aren’t eligible if you purchase electricity through a private utility or reseller.
A one-time bill credit is the most efficient way to provide timely financial relief for customers.
Applying bill credits is administratively more efficient and less costly for BC Hydro.
If you’re having trouble keeping up with your BC Hydro bills, we offer several programs to help, such as a grant payment through our Customer Crisis Fund.