BC regulation
Is BC net metering grandfathered? The ten-year rule, and what ends it early
Yes. If you were on Rate Schedule 1289 before 1 July 2026 you stay on it for ten years from your own service start date — not from any shared cliff date. Four things can end that early, and one of them is irreversible.
By Majid Arabi, founder of Raincoast Solar · Reviewed July 2026
Almost everything written about the BC Hydro net metering rate change was written for people shopping for a system, not for people who already own one. Every claim below is sourced to the tariff or the Commission’s order, and where a source is silent this page says so.
Verified 28 July 2026 against BCUC Order G-64-26, the RS 1289 tariff sheet and BC Hydro’s rate-update page.
Are you grandfathered? The eligibility test
There are only two questions, and the second one catches more people than the first.
- Were you taking net metering service under RS 1289 before 1 July 2026? Not “had you signed a contract with an installer”, and not “had you submitted an application” — were you receiving service. If yes, you are on the closed schedule and it still governs you.
- Have you accepted a BC Hydro solar rebate? Then you have already agreed to move: the rebate terms and conditions state that “By accepting a solar Rebate, the Eligible Customer acknowledges and agrees that BC Hydro customers will receive service under Rate Schedule 2289”. This is the exception that catches people who read a rebate as a discount rather than as a rate decision.
Two situations sit outside that test and neither has a published answer: an application accepted before 1 July 2026 whose interconnection came after it, and a bill you cannot read the schedule off. Ask BC Hydro in writing and keep the answer. We will not invent a rule here to look complete.
How long it lasts, and how the clock is measured
Ten years, and the clock is yours alone: a customer “will remain on this rate until 10 years have passed from the initial net metering service start date”
| Net metering service start | Grandfathered until | What happens then |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2029 | Automatic transfer to RS 2289. Nothing to apply for. |
| 2022 | 2032 | Automatic transfer to RS 2289. Nothing to apply for. |
| 2025 | 2035 | Automatic transfer to RS 2289. Nothing to apply for. |
Illustrative years only. Your date is the one on your own interconnection paperwork, not the year your panels were installed and not 1 July 2026.
At the end the change happens by itself: “Once those 10 years have passed, they will automatically be transferred to the self-generation service rate (Rate Schedule 2289).” No extension has been published. What you transfer to is set out on our page on Rate Schedule 2289, and the two are compared line by line in our RS 1289 vs RS 2289 comparison.
What ends it early — and what does not
Four mechanisms can move you off RS 1289 early; three are inside your control. The list of things that do not is longer.
| What you might do | Effect on RS 1289 | What the source says |
|---|---|---|
| Accept a BC Hydro solar rebate | Yes — and permanently. | “If you received a solar rebate, you will be moved to the new self-generation rate (Rate Schedule 2289) when it begins.” |
| Accept a BC Hydro battery rebate only | No. | “If you only accepted the battery rebate, this change will not impact which service rate you are on.” |
| Sell the house | Not for you — but the buyer does not inherit it. | “The Panel finds it is appropriate that customers who move into premises with an existing generating facility are not eligible for the transition period.” |
| Add panels without Interconnection Approval | Puts the rate at risk. | Special Condition 6 forbids adding to or modifying the facility without approval; Special Condition 7 lets BC Hydro suspend or terminate service for failing to comply with the schedule. |
| Leave BC Hydro’s regular monthly or bi-monthly billing | Ends it automatically. | Special Condition 8 makes net metering service conditional on the customer being billed under the regular billing plan, and deems it terminated concurrently with any change. |
| Add a battery to an existing array | Not on the published record. | The tariff sheet is silent on storage. Interconnection Approval is still required first. |
| Lease your system, or have a third party operate it | No. | Special Condition 5 keeps the customer responsible for every obligation as though they owned it — a responsibility rule, not a disqualification. |
Sources: the RS 1289 tariff sheet (Revision 2), BCUC Order G-64-26 section 2.6, and BC Hydro’s customer generation rate-update page, all read 28 July 2026.
That trade is arithmetic, not principle. A single-family solar rebate is $1,000 per kW to a maximum of $5,000. What you give up is the gap between banking a kilowatt-hour and selling it: on the tiered residential rate Tier 1 costs 11.87¢ per kWh and Tier 2 14.08¢, against 10¢ for an RS 2289 export — 1.87¢ and 4.08¢ per exported kilowatt-hour. Multiply by your annual export, then by the years you have left; we will run the comparison with you for free. The rest of the programme, including the 14-day Peak Saver window that costs people thousands, is in our BC solar rebates guide.
What happens if you add a battery
The tariff does not mention batteries at all — not in the RS 1289 sheet and not in its definition of a Generating Facility. That silence is neither permission nor prohibition. BC Hydro’s conduct points the same way: its Simple Net Metering application form asks about storage at interconnection.
The question arrives now rather than in 2019 because the economics inverted. Under RS 1289 surplus was banked and netted annually, so a battery bought outage comfort and little else. Under RS 2289 the netting interval is instantaneous: a kilowatt-hour is either used the moment it is made or sold at 10¢. Model storage before your ten years end, not after. Our home battery backup guide covers sizing and outage behaviour.
What happens if you sell the house
BC Hydro’s pages and tariff sheet are silent; the answer is in the order. A new occupant does not inherit the transition period. Its purpose is “the purpose of a transition is to mitigate the negative impact from changes from RS 1289 to RS 2289 on customers who made the investment in the energy system” — it protects the person who spent the money, not the address.
One edge is genuinely unsettled. BC Hydro’s proposal read “Customers who move into premises with an existing Generating Facility after April 1, 2026, will not be eligible for BC Hydro’s proposed RS 1289 transition period.” The Panel’s finding, as printed, does not repeat that date — so whether someone who moved in before 1 April 2026 is caught remains open. If that is you, get BC Hydro’s position in writing, or read the Commission’s decision at section 2.6.
- Selling. Your remaining transition period is not a feature of the house. A listing promising a buyer your rate promises something the Commission has said does not transfer.
- Buying. Assume RS 2289 and price the system on that basis. The array, inverter and interconnection are still worth having; the export treatment is what changes.
Expanding your system: what the deadline was, and what is left of it
Most guidance here is out of date. There was a real advantage to expanding early; it expired on 1 July 2026, and nothing recovers it now. Expanding before that date re-dated your transition period to “the weighted average of the customer’s original and expanded generating facility sizes”, pushing your end date later; customers expanding after it “will not be subject to a weighted transition period”. The concession protected people who had already committed the money — the same reasoning as the sale rule above.
One thing the order leaves unstated: whether the Interconnection Approval an expansion needs counts as a new application now that RS 1289 is closed. It plainly contemplates customers expanding after 1 July and staying on RS 1289 — the strongest indication that it does not, though an indication is not a statement.
Can they even do this? The Commission’s own answer
Owners are owed the regulator’s answer, not ours. It is not the comforting one.
“The Panel notes that rate schedules are subject to change. The purpose of a transition period is to alleviate the impacts of changes to ratepayers, and there is no requirement that transitions keep individual customers whole.”
— BCUC Order G-64-26, section 2.6
That is the frame the BC Hydro self generation rate change was decided in: a transition softens a change, it does not guarantee where any individual ends up. Which turns the ten years from a promise into what they are — a planning window with a known end date.
What to do this month
- Find your net metering service start date. It is on your interconnection approval, not your installation invoice. Add ten years and write it down; nobody will remind you.
- Check your annual export figure. Your net metering statement has it, and it decides whether any trade-off on this page matters to you.
- Do not accept a solar rebate without doing that sum first. It is a permanent rate decision wearing the clothes of a discount.
- If you moved into a home with solar, ask BC Hydro which schedule you are on. Get it in writing.
- If you are adding anything — panels, a battery, an inverter swap — get Interconnection Approval first. The one item here that can cost you the rate outright.
Frequently asked questions
Am I grandfathered on BC Hydro net metering?
If you were taking net metering service under Rate Schedule 1289 before 1 July 2026, yes. You stay on RS 1289 for 10 years measured from the initial net metering service start date (per customer, not a single cliff date). The schedule was closed to new applicants, not repealed, so it still governs everyone already on it.
How long does grandfathered net metering in BC last?
Ten years from your own net metering service start date — not from 1 July 2026, and not from the decision date. Two neighbours who connected three years apart transfer three years apart. BC Hydro asked for twenty years and the Commission granted ten, so anything still saying twenty is quoting the application rather than the decision.
Do I lose my net metering if I sell the house?
The buyer does not inherit your transition period. The Commission was explicit: “The Panel finds it is appropriate that customers who move into premises with an existing generating facility are not eligible for the transition period.” A transition protects the person who made the investment, not the address. One edge is unsettled: whether somebody who moved into a home with solar before 1 April 2026 is caught.
Does adding a battery end my grandfathering?
On the published record, no — but read that carefully. The RS 1289 tariff sheet says nothing at all about energy storage, and neither does its definition of a Generating Facility. BC Hydro publishes that “If you only accepted the battery rebate, this change will not impact which service rate you are on.” So a retrofit is an interconnection question rather than a rate-schedule one, and Special Condition 6 requires Interconnection Approval before you add to or modify anything.
Can I still expand my solar system and keep the ten years?
The ten years keep running, but expanding no longer extends them. Customers who expanded before 1 July 2026 got a transition period based on the weighted average of their original and expanded system sizes; those expanding after that date “will not be subject to a weighted transition period” Get Interconnection Approval first — adding capacity without it is the one route by which an expansion really can cost you the rate.
What happens when my ten years are up?
“Once those 10 years have passed, they will automatically be transferred to the self-generation service rate (Rate Schedule 2289).” Nothing to apply for, nothing to sign, and no published route to an extension. From that day your exports are bought at 10¢ per kWh, settled each billing cycle, while the energy you use in the house still offsets consumption at the retail rate.
Can BC Hydro change the rules again before my ten years are up?
The Commission addressed this directly, and the answer is not the comforting one: “The Panel notes that rate schedules are subject to change. The purpose of a transition period is to alleviate the impacts of changes to ratepayers, and there is no requirement that transitions keep individual customers whole.” Grandfathering is a transition, not a guarantee of a fixed outcome.
Free grandfathering review and battery-retrofit assessment
Send us your net metering service start date and last year’s export figure and we will tell you what your remaining years are worth, whether a battery changes that, and what a rebate would cost you against it. No obligation, and no charge — existing solar owners are the people who understand this market best, and we would rather be useful to you than sell you something.
This page describes BC Hydro Rate Schedules 1289 and 2289, and the transition between them, as published on 28 July 2026. Quoted wording comes from BCUC Order G-64-26, the RS 1289 tariff sheet (Revision 2) and BC Hydro’s own rate and rebate pages; rates are stated before GST and rider adjustments. Where a source is silent — the deadline for repaying a solar rebate, applications in progress at the closure date, how a schedule is identified on a bill, and the position of an occupant who moved in before 1 April 2026 — this page says so rather than inferring. Rate schedules 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.