Going concern

Bob Elton, CA
President and CEO,
BC Hydro

Company profile: BC Hydro’s beginnings date back to the late 1800s with the building of the first hydroelectric plant near Victoria. Today, it is one of the largest electric utilities in Canada, serving more than 1.6 million customers and operating 30 hydroelectric facilities, two gas- fired thermal power plants and a combustion turbine station. As a provincial Crown corporation, the company is regulated by the BC Utilities Commission and reports to the Minister of Energy and Mines. It employs 4,300 people and has annual earnings of about $400 million.

Hot factor: Boasting one of the lowest costs in North America — along with Quebec and Manitoba — BC Hydro has managed to improve its reliability over the past year, despite company restructuring in accordance with the provincial government’s energy plan. It was recently given the prestigious environmental Fraser Basin Council Sustainability Award for its water use planning project, a multistake-holder process that aims to find better balance between competing uses of water that are environmentally, socially and economically acceptable.

Cool projects: With a long- term goal of net zero incremental environmental impact, BC Hydro is in the process of finding out precisely what its effects on the environment are. This spring, the company aims to publicly disclose its target steps to offset those effects, including reducing energy consumption up to 20% in BC.

In his own words: “I think as a company we’re very focused. We don’t worry about acquisitions and mergers as ways of creating value, as that’s not within our mandate. We have a geographical area and we must serve it as best we can. It's a complicated business, but it’s a simple purpose.”       

Rosalind Stefanac