British Columbia politicians have been telling residents the province needs to stand on its own two feet, an “elbows up” message aimed at reducing dependence on the United States.
But that claim is hard to square with a power system that has leaned on imported electricity for three straight years, even as B.C. moves to retire one of its few firm natural gas generators and accelerates electrification policies that will push demand higher.
New data obtained by the Energy Futures Institute shows BC Hydro imported another 500 gigawatt hours of electricity in December, bringing total net imports for 2025 to 5,591 gigawatt hours, more than the expected annual output of the $16 billion Site C hydroelectric project in a normal water year.
“Despite political pronouncements about the importance of ‘standing on our own two feet’ British Columbia continues to import substantial amounts of electricity from the U.S.,” institute chair Barry Penner said, calling it “the third year in a row that BC has been a net importer of electricity.”
The rising cost of imported power
Penner has argued the trend is not just about weather. In a December briefing referenced by the institute, he cited a backlog of 7,291 megawatts of requested electrical service waiting in BC Hydro’s connection queue, with most tied to industrial loads such as mines, LNG facilities and data centres.
The import bill has also been significant. BC Hydro filings cited in a Global News report said the utility imported 13,600 gigawatt hours in fiscal 2024, about 25 per cent of its total power, at a cost of nearly $1.4 billion.
The previous year, it imported about 10,000 gigawatt hours, about a fifth of its total load, at a cost of more than $450 million. The Energy Futures Institute has also said BC Hydro reported to the B.C. Utilities Commission that imported electricity costs exceeded $2 billion across the combined 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025 fiscal years.
B.C. Energy Minister Adrian Dix has attributed recent import levels to multi-year drought conditions affecting hydroelectric generation, while emphasizing the province can import when electricity is cheap and export when it is expensive.
Drought, demand and a shifting regional grid
“The power we export is worth way more than the power we import,” Dix told Global News, saying the province has made $550 million for ratepayers on the exchange over the last five years.
In the same report, BC Hydro spokesperson Mora Scott said it was too early to predict whether the utility would be a net importer or net exporter in the current fiscal year, adding it depends on precipitation and that snowpack was below average.
Former Opposition Leader John Rustad blamed the NDP government, saying it scrapped legislation that required B.C. to be energy self-sufficient under former premier John Horgan. “Now, unfortunately, we are going to be paying the piper,” Rustad told Global News, warning the U.S. Pacific Northwest is expected to become a net importer itself starting in 2027.
Reliability concerns have also been raised outside the legislature.
Looming shortages and the loss of dispatchable power
A report from the Western Electricity Coordination Council concluding the Pacific Northwest will be vulnerable to energy shortages as utilities add wind, solar and batteries while demand grows from data centres, heating and electric vehicles. The column said “loss of load events,” when demand exceeds supply, could appear as soon as 2028.
Critics say B.C. is adding vulnerability by stepping back from dispatchable generation at home. Business in Vancouver reported this month that the province is fast tracking nine Indigenous led wind projects and one solar project, and exempting the wind projects from the Environmental Assessment review process, shifting oversight to the B.C. Energy Regulator.
At the same time, two thermal plants are facing closure, including Island Generation in Campbell River, a natural gas facility that can produce 275 megawatts and is set to lose its electricity purchase agreement with BC Hydro in 2026.
“If we didn’t have that today, we’d be importing even more electricity from the United States,” Penner told BIV, adding, “I think it’s extremely dangerous not to have that dispatchable resource available.”
Betting on intermittent power
The argument, he and others say, is that sovereignty is not a slogan tied to who sits in the White House. Even without U.S. President Donald Trump, B.C. should be planning for energy self sufficiency in a region where neighbours may have less surplus power to sell.
Former Haisla chief councillor Ellis Ross raised the same pressure point from a different angle. “Electric drives need huge amounts of electricity that B.C. doesn’t have,” Ross said.
For now, the province is betting that new wind projects and further calls for power will close the gap later this decade. Critics counter that the near term choice, retiring firm generation while importing more electricity from fossil fuel heavy grids, undercuts the very “elbows up” posture leaders say they want.
Geoff Russ is a writer for Resource Works, a non-partisan organization that champions responsible resource development in British Columbia and Canada. Reach Geoff at [email protected].
Resource Works News
