VICTORIA, B.C.: The Conservative Caucus of B.C. supports innovation and the responsible growth of emerging industries, including artificial intelligence. However, today’s announcement by the NDP government exposes serious failures in energy planning, fairness, and long-term affordability.
“After years of poor demand forecasting and delayed generation decisions, the government is now rationing access to clean electricity through a competitive allocation process that risks picking winners and losers,” said David Williams, Critic for BC Hydro and Electric Self-Sufficiency. “It avoids the root problem: British Columbia does not have enough firm, affordable power to meet growing demand.”
This process, enabled through the Energy Statutes Amendment Act, is being introduced only after major electricity demand has already materialized from AI, electrification, LNG development, and industrial expansion, without the generation or transmission infrastructure in place to support it.
At the same time, the NDP is rationing electricity for new growth industries while allowing B.C.’s existing industries, especially forestry, to be sunset through regulatory uncertainty, fibre shortages, and unreliable access to power.
“British Columbians are told this approach will protect affordability. History shows the opposite,” Williams said. “Administrative allocation systems increase costs, reduce transparency, and discourage investment.”
Limiting access to electricity will delay or cancel data centre construction, force approved projects to pay higher rates, and shift more risk onto ratepayers as scarcity replaces long-term planning.
“Clean electricity is a public asset,” Williams added. “Decisions about access and pricing must be transparent and accountable, not reactive responses driven by scarcity.”
The decision to allocate just 400 megawatts over two years underscores how constrained B.C.’s electricity system has become, as industrial demand continues to grow and firm supply erodes. Run-of-river generation, industrial cogeneration, and Island Power face uncertainty, while transmission bottlenecks across the Interior, the North, and Vancouver Island remain unresolved.
“The NDP is triaging a power shortage, not planning for long-term growth” Williams said.
“Government has failed to properly plan for B.C.’s power needs, in part due to ideological bias,” said Gavin Dew, Critic for Jobs, Economic Development, Innovation and AI. “They’re rationing power like wartime butter, limiting economic growth, and relying on other provinces for Canada’s data sovereignty.”
“It’s also striking to see a major AI announcement in B.C. with the Minister of State for AI sidelined and no industry validators,” Dew added..
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Media Contact:
Francesca Guetchev, Press Secretary
Francesca.Guetchev@leg.bc.ca
+1 (672) 922-0948
