BC Hydro replaced net metering. Here is what actually changed.
On 1 July 2026 BC Hydro closed net metering to new customers and replaced it with the Self-Generation rate. Most of what is written about this online is either out of date or was written about the proposal rather than the decision. Here is the short version.
The old deal
Under net metering, the power you exported effectively ran your meter backwards. You banked credits at the full retail rate through the summer, drew them down through the winter, and settled up once a year on your anniversary date. Any surplus left at the end was paid out at a much lower wholesale price.
The new deal
Under the Self-Generation rate, BC Hydro buys your exported power at 10 cents per kWh and credits it on every bill, not once a year. Systems are sized to meet your own load, with net injection allowed up to 100 kW per phase.
The practical difference: exported power is now worth less than the power you buy, where under net metering it was worth the same. That makes the power you use yourself the valuable part — and it makes battery storage, and running heavy loads during daylight, worth more than they used to be.
Are you grandfathered?
- If you were on net metering and never took a BC Hydro solar rebate, you stay on the old rate until ten years from the day your net metering service started, then move across automatically.
- If you were on net metering and did take the solar rebate, you moved to the new rate on 1 July 2026. There was a window to repay the rebate and keep the old rate, but it closed on 30 June 2026.
You may have read that non-rebate customers get twenty years. That figure came from BC Hydro’s original application to the regulator. The BCUC approved ten.
Does solar still make sense?
Yes — but the design that makes sense changed. Under net metering the sensible move was to build the biggest array your roof would take and bank the summer surplus. Now the sensible move is to size the array closer to what you actually consume, and to think harder about shifting load into daylight or storing it.
The rebates did not change: up to $5,000 on solar and up to $5,000 on an eligible battery. The one that catches people is the contractor requirement — since 1 June 2026 BC Hydro only pays those rebates when the installer is a Home Performance Contractor Network member.
Not sure where this leaves you?
Send us your last bill. We will tell you what the new rate means for your situation specifically.
Nechako Solar is a licensed BC electrical contractor, licence LEL0204111, and a member of BC Hydro’s Home Performance Contractor Network. Rebate amounts and rate details are current as of August 2026 and are set by BC Hydro, not by us.