January 12, 2026

The BC Utilities Commission today accepted BC Hydro’s renewed long-term electricity purchase agreement with the Greater Vancouver Sewage and Drainage District for power from “waste heat” produced by the Burnaby incinerator. The January 12, 2026 decision comes six months to the day after BC Hydro filed the renewed EPA (on June 12, 2025). The BCUC did not allow interveners in its review proceeding. But it did allow letters of comment, all of which opposed the renewed EPA. 

Prompted by Zero Waste BC, BCSEA filed a letter of comment saying the renewed EPA is not in the public interest under the UCA because the electricity would come from an incineration facility that emits large amounts of GHGs due to burning plastics and other fossil-based waste materials. BCSEA said this would be contrary to the BC energy objective to reduce BC GHG emissions. BCSEA submitted that “Rather than relying simply on waste heat, the renewed EPA includes financial incentives and consequences for GVS&DD that are designed so that GVS&DD maintains continued reliability for electricity generation from the WTE Facility throughout the term.”

The BCUC accepted the renewed EPA on the grounds that electricity from “waste heat” is deemed to be “clean or renewable” by the Clean or Renewable Resource Regulation under the Clean Energy Act, and that the EPA would cause no incremental GHG emissions because the Burnaby incinerator would continue to operate regardless of the EPA.