BC regulation

BC Hydro Rate Schedule 2289, explained

On 1 July 2026 BC Hydro stopped accepting new customers onto net metering and opened a new rate in its place. If you already have solar, almost nothing about your bill changed. If you are about to install it, one detail changed the arithmetic completely — not what you are paid for exported power, but when it is counted.

By Majid Arabi, founder of Raincoast Solar · Reviewed July 2026

Verified 27 July 2026 against BCUC Order G-64-26 and BC Hydro’s published rate pages. Every figure below comes from those sources.

What Rate Schedule 2289 is, in one paragraph

Rate Schedule 2289 is BC Hydro’s Self-Generation Service: the rate that applies to a customer who generates some of their own electricity and stays connected to the grid. The BC Utilities Commission approved it in BCUC Order G-64-26, dated 24 March 2026, and it took effect on 1 July 2026. It pays 10¢ per kWh for energy you export to the grid, it settles that credit every billing cycle rather than once a year, and it sets a net injection limit of 100 kilowatts per phase after serving the customer’s load. Everything else on this page follows from those three facts.

It is not a solar rate. RS 2289 is technology-neutral and does not mention solar anywhere. It applies the same way to wind, micro-hydro, a biomass set or a standby generator that exports. Almost every article you will read calls it “the new BC solar rate”, which is a useful shorthand and a wrong name. Worth knowing if you ever need to quote it to BC Hydro.

One date trap before anything else: 24 March 2026 is the decision date, not the in-force date. The BCUC ruled in March; the rate began on 1 July. Anything you read that says the rules changed in March, or in April, is quoting an earlier and now-superseded application.

What changed on 1 July 2026, and what did not

Five things changed at once, which is part of why the coverage of BC Hydro’s net metering changes has been muddled. Taken one at a time:

Net metering closed

RS 1289, the Net Metering Service, stopped accepting new customers. Existing participants stay on it.

RS 2289 opened

Self-Generation Service became the rate for every new self-generating customer, at 10¢ per kWh exported.

RS 2290 opened too

Community Generation Service, for shared projects up to 2 MW, arrived the same day and has had almost no coverage at all.

Alongside those, two mechanics changed that matter more than the headline price. Settlement moved from annual to every billing cycle, and the netting interval moved from an annual reckoning to instantaneous. The size limit also changed shape: RS 1289 capped nameplate capacity at 100 kW, while RS 2289 caps net injection at 100 kW per phase, measured after your own load is served. Those are different rules, and only one of them is about the size of your array.

“Net metering is gone in BC” is false, and we will not write it. RS 1289 is closed to new customers, not repealed. It remains in force for everyone already on it, on the terms they already have. There is a longer answer to that specific claim, and it is worth the distinction.

What did not change: the equipment, the permits, the electrical inspection, the interconnection application, or the retail rates you pay for the power you buy. More on that at the end — it is a longer list than most people expect.

How the settlement mechanic actually works

This is the part almost nobody has explained properly, and it is the part that decides whether a system is worth building.

Under the old net metering rate, your meter counted in both directions and the arithmetic was done on the totals. If you generated 900 kWh in a period and used 1,500 kWh, you were billed for 600 kWh — and it made no difference whether your own power was consumed at noon while the array was producing or at 10 p.m. from the grid. Surplus banked as kilowatt-hours and carried forward, and whatever was left at your anniversary date was cashed out at a price BC Hydro recalculated each 1 January from the prior year’s daily average Mid-Columbia market prices.

Under RS 2289, the arithmetic happens at the instant it happens. BC Hydro’s own wording: “Customers will be able to offset their consumption with their generation, i.e. at the retail rate, applying an instantaneous netting interval.” If your array is producing 3 kW while your house draws 1 kW, then in that moment 1 kW is self-consumed and offsets the retail rate, and 2 kW is exported and earns 10¢. There is no bank. There is no annual true-up. Each billing cycle you are billed for what you imported and credited for what you exported, and the two appear on the same bill.

How settlement changed
	RS 1289 — closed 1 July 2026	RS 2289 — in force
When exports are counted	On the period totals	Instantaneously, as they occur
Credit unit	Kilowatt-hours, banked	Dollars, on each bill
Settlement	Once a year, at the anniversary date	Every billing cycle
Export price	Recalculated each 1 January from Mid-Columbia prices	10¢ per kWh, fixed until reviewed
Can summer carry winter?	Yes — that was the point of the bank	No
Size limit	100 kW nameplate	100 kW net injection per phase, after load

Sources: BC Hydro Rate Schedule 1289 (closed) and the rate-design material approved by BCUC Order G-64-26.

The consequence is short enough to state in one line: you can no longer bank summer sunshine against a winter bill. A kWh exported in July earns 10¢ in July. It is not held against December, when this coast generates a fraction of what it does in summer and consumes considerably more.

The export credit, and what it is worth against what you pay

Search for a solar export credit in BC and 10¢ per kWh is the number you land on. On its own it means nothing. It means something against the price of a kWh you would otherwise have bought — so here are both, from BC Hydro’s published residential rates as of 27 July 2026.

Exported vs. self-consumed, per kWh
What happens to the kWh	Worth	Vs. exporting
Exported to the grid (RS 2289)	10¢	—
Used on site, tiered rate 1101 Tier 1	11.87¢	+1.87¢
Used on site, tiered rate 1101 Tier 2	14.08¢	+4.08¢
Used on site, flat rate 1151	12.70¢	+2.70¢

Tier 1 applies to the first 22.1918 kWh per day; Tier 2 to everything above it. The basic charge of 23.44 cents per day is excluded here, because it is unaffected by generation. Figures before GST and rider adjustments.

That table is the single most useful thing on this page, and it is worth reading it more carefully than the marketing does. Yes, a kWh you use is worth more than a kWh you sell. But in Tier 1 the gap is 1.87¢ — not nothing, and not the dramatic difference the phrase “self-consumption is far more valuable” implies. In Tier 2 the gap is 4.08¢, more than twice as much. Self-consumption pays properly in a high-consumption household, and only modestly in a frugal one.

One caution on projecting that forward. BC Hydro states that the Tier 2 energy charge “will remain constant at 14.08¢ per kWh”. The two tiers are converging, so a payback model that assumes today’s Tier 2 premium survives 25 years is assuming something BC Hydro has said it will not do.

Is the 10¢ fixed?

Here is where most coverage gets it wrong, and the correct answer is sharper than the wrong one. You will read that the rate is “fixed for five years”. That phrase comes from BC Hydro’s application — it is what was asked for. The Commission did not grant a term. Its finding, in full, was this:

“The Panel finds it reasonable for the Energy Price to be fixed until there is a review of BC Hydro’s evaluation report, as this will provide a period of stability for customers while allowing the Energy Price to be revisited in the future.”

— and it directed BC Hydro to file that evaluation report by 30 April 2030. So the price is fixed until a review, not for a term, and 30 April 2030 is a filing deadline rather than an expiry date. It is also under four years after the rate began, so “five years” is wrong about the arithmetic as well as the mechanism.

There is no per-customer lock-in either, and this one costs money if you get it wrong. One intervenor proposed fixing each customer’s price at their service start date for the life of their project; the Panel did not adopt it. If somebody models 10¢ per kWh across a 25-year payback and calls it locked in, they are quoting a proposal, not a decision. The full detail of what BC Hydro pays and how that price is set is worth its own read.

A worked example on a real bill

Assumptions, stated so you can substitute your own: a 30-day billing period, a household consuming 1,500 kWh, on the tiered residential rate, with a 9 kW array producing 900 kWh in that period. The only thing that differs between the two RS 2289 columns is how much of that generation is used in the house as it is produced.

Same house, same system, same 900 kWh generated
Per 30-day period	No solar	RS 1289 closed	RS 2289 40% used on site	RS 2289 70% used on site
Billed grid consumption	1,500 kWh	600 kWh	1,140 kWh	870 kWh
Energy charge	$196.49	$71.22	$145.80	$107.78
Basic charge	$7.03	$7.03	$7.03	$7.03
Export credit	—	banked as kWh	−$54.00	−$27.00
Period total	$203.52	$78.25	$98.83	$87.81

Before GST and rider adjustments. The RS 1289 column shows what a new customer would have been billed under the now-closed rate — it is not a choice anyone still has. BC Hydro bills most residential customers bi-monthly, with the Tier 1 threshold pro-rated by the number of days.

Two things fall out of that table, and the second is the one worth remembering.

First: the timing of your own consumption now moves your bill. Shifting 270 kWh from export to self-consumption — the difference between the two RS 2289 columns — is worth $11.02 in this period. That is exactly 270 kWh at the 4.08¢ Tier 2 premium, and you can check the arithmetic yourself.

Second, and this is the whole change in one line: under RS 1289 that column does not move. Annual netting worked on the totals, so a household using 40% of its generation on site and one using 70% got the same bill. Under RS 2289 the same house, the same array and the same 900 kWh produce two different bills. That is what an instantaneous netting interval means in practice.

Do not multiply that $11.02 by twelve. This coast produces a fraction as much in December as in July, and consumption runs the other way. The mechanism is what generalises; the number does not. A proper annual payback needs month-by-month production, not a single period scaled up.

Who this affects: new applicants versus existing systems

If you applied for net metering before 1 July 2026 and were accepted, you are on RS 1289 and you stay there. The transition runs 10 years from the initial net metering service start date — so your ten years and your neighbour’s ten years end on different days.

If you have read “20 years” anywhere, it is stale. BC Hydro applied for a 20-year transition. The BCUC granted 10. Any page still saying 20 is quoting the application, or an earlier order that has been superseded.

There is one exception, and it is the sharpest fact in this whole area. Taking a solar rebate moves you to RS 2289. BC Hydro’s wording: “If you received a solar rebate, you will be moved to the new self-generation rate (Rate Schedule 2289) when it begins.” If you received your rebate before the BCUC decision on 24 March 2026, you have a one-time opportunity to repay it and stay on net metering for the remainder of your ten years.

And it cannot be undone. The tariff is explicit: “Once an Eligible Customer begins receiving service under Rate Schedule 2289, they cannot under any circumstances revert to or receive service under Rate Schedule 1289.” Accepting a rebate is a permanent rate decision, not just a cheque. It belongs in the same conversation as the rebate itself, and if nobody has raised it with you, raise it with them.

BC Hydro has not published a deadline for that repayment option. We have looked; the page that should carry it currently returns an error. We are not going to tell you the window is still open, and we are not going to tell you it has closed — neither is supportable from anything published. If this applies to you, ask BC Hydro directly and get the answer in writing before you decide. The grandfathering rules have more edge cases than this summary can carry.

A clause-by-clause comparison of the two schedules sets out every difference in one place.

What this does to sizing and payback

Under annual netting, the sensible instruction was “size to your annual consumption”, because any kWh you overproduced in July was worth a full retail kWh in January. That instruction is now wrong. Under RS 2289 an overproduced kWh is worth 10¢, not 11.87¢ or 14.08¢.

10¢per exported kWh

+1.87¢self-consumption premium, Tier 1

+4.08¢self-consumption premium, Tier 2

$11.02worth of shifting 270 kWh in the example above

Three practical consequences, in the order they matter:

Daytime load is now an asset. A heat pump, a hot water tank on a timer, an EV that charges at home during the day, someone working from the house — each converts export into avoided retail, and each is worth 11.87¢ or 14.08¢ per kWh depending on your tier.
Oversizing costs more than it used to. The marginal panel on an already-large array mostly exports, which means it earns 10¢ rather than displacing 14.08¢. It still pays; it pays less than the first panel did, and the gap widens the larger the array.
Storage has a real argument now, and a narrower one than you will be told. A battery moves a kWh from export at 10¢ to self-consumption at 11.87¢ or 14.08¢. On the tiered rate that is the premium above and nothing more. The bigger case is time-of-day pricing, where the on-peak adjustment is +5¢ from 4 to 9 p.m. — hours when a solar array on this coast is fading or finished. Storage moves energy into that window. But you have to be on the time-of-day plan for any of it to apply, and most households are not.

The honest summary is that RS 2289 makes solar in BC a more careful calculation, not a worse one. What it rewards has changed: it rewards a system matched to how a household actually uses electricity, rather than one matched to a number on an annual bill.

What RS 2289 does not change

Worth being explicit, because the volume of coverage since July has left people expecting changes that did not happen. None of the following was touched:

Equipment. The same panels, inverters and batteries are eligible. No product was delisted and no certification requirement changed.
Permits and inspections. Your municipal electrical permit and Technical Safety BC inspection work exactly as before.
The interconnection process. The application, the review and the approval to energise are unchanged. RS 2289 changes what you are paid, not how you get connected.
Safety standards and anti-islanding. Unchanged.
The retail rates you pay. The tiered, flat and time-of-day plans are the same rates a household with no solar pays.
Whether solar works here. The physics did not attend the hearing. Output on this coast is what it always was.

Rebates are a separate question with their own moving parts, and they interact with this rate in the one irreversible way described above. Our guide to BC solar rebates covers what is available and what taking one commits you to, and the rebate and payback calculator runs the numbers for a specific address.

Frequently asked questions

What is BC Hydro Rate Schedule 2289?

Rate Schedule 2289 is BC Hydro’s Self-Generation Service, in force since 1 July 2026 for customers who generate some of their own electricity and stay connected to the grid. It pays 10¢ per kWh for exported energy, settles that credit every billing cycle, and caps net injection at 100 kW per phase after your own load is served. It is technology-neutral: the schedule never mentions solar, and applies equally to wind or micro-hydro.

What happened to net metering in BC on 1 July 2026?

Rate Schedule 1289, the Net Metering Service, closed to new customers. It was closed, not repealed: everyone already on it stays on it, and net metering has not been abolished in BC. What ended is the ability to sign up for it. New self-generating customers go onto RS 2289 instead.

How much does BC Hydro pay for exported solar power now?

10¢ per kWh, flat, for every kWh you send to the grid. Under the closed net metering rate the payout was recalculated each 1 January from the previous year’s Mid-Columbia market prices, so nobody knew their rate a year ahead. A fixed, published price is the genuine improvement in the new schedule.

Is the RS 2289 export credit settled per billing cycle or annually?

Every billing cycle. BC Hydro’s wording is that it will “purchase your excess generation energy at 10 cents per kWh and you will be compensated each billing cycle instead of yearly”. This is the mechanical heart of the change and the part most coverage misses: there is no annual true-up and no kWh bank, so summer surplus can no longer carry a winter bill.

What does “up to 100 kW per phase” mean for my house?

It caps what you may push to the grid, measured after your own load is served — not the size of your array. The old net metering rate capped nameplate capacity at 100 kW; RS 2289 caps net injection. In practice a house is limited by its roof, its electrical service and BC Hydro’s interconnection review long before it reaches 100 kW of anything.

Does the 100 kW per phase limit apply to single-phase residential service?

The limit is written per phase, so a three-phase commercial service implies a higher total than a single-phase one. We have confirmed that wording from BCUC Order G-64-26 and BC Hydro’s rate-design pages but not from the tariff body itself, so we will not state how a split-phase 120/240 V service is counted. For a house it does not matter. If you are sizing a commercial or farm system where it might, get the count from BC Hydro’s interconnection group in writing before you design to it.

Will BC Hydro change the 10-cent rate later?

It can be revised, and the mechanism is already set. The BCUC fixed the Energy Price “until there is a review of BC Hydro’s evaluation report”, and directed BC Hydro to file that report by 30 April 2030. So the 10¢ is stable now, with a known point at which it can be looked at again. Nothing has been decided about what happens after that review.

Is RS 2289 locked in for a set term, or can it be revised?

There is no term. BC Hydro asked the BCUC to let the price “remain at this level for five years”; the Panel granted no term and tied the fix to the review instead. Nor is there per-customer lock-in — a proposal to fix each customer’s price at their service start date for the life of their system was put to the Panel and not adopted. Anyone telling you your export price is locked for 25 years is quoting a proposal, not an approval.

Free RS 2289 payback analysis for your address

We will model your roof, your actual consumption pattern and your rate schedule under RS 2289 as it is now written — not under annual netting, and not with a locked-in export price nobody was granted. No obligation, and we will tell you if the answer is no.

Request your payback analysis How residential projects work

This page summarises BC Hydro Rate Schedule 2289 and related rates as published on 27 July 2026. Figures are taken from BCUC Order G-64-26 and BC Hydro’s own rate pages, and are stated before GST and rider adjustments. Rate schedules and rebate terms change; confirm anything you intend to act on with BC Hydro directly. Raincoast Solar designs and sells solar and battery systems and subcontracts installation to licensed electrical partners. This is general information, not financial advice.