Orders

ORDER NUMBER

R-52-17

IN THE MATTER OF

the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473

and

Rio Tinto Alcan

Application for Acceptance of Mitigation Plans (Version 2) required for

Compliance with Mandatory Reliability Standards:

EOP-008-1 Requirement 1 - Violation ID:  BCUC2016000587

EOP-008-1 Requirement 7 - Violation ID:  BCUC2016000588

BEFORE:

W. M. Everett, QC, Commissioner

on December 6, 2017

ORDER

WHEREAS:

A.      On December 1, 2017, the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC), acting as the Administrator for the British Columbia Mandatory Reliability Standards Program (BC MRS Program), issued Recommendations of Mitigation Plan (MP) Acceptance (Recommendations) to bring Rio Tinto Alcan (RTA) into compliance with the reliability standards identified above;

B.      Section 125.2 of the Utilities Commission Act (UCA) assigns exclusive jurisdiction to the British Columbia Utilities Commission (Commission) to determine whether a “reliability standard,” as defined in the UCA, is in the public interest and should be adopted in British Columbia. By Order G-123-09, the Commission approved the Compliance Monitoring Program (CMP) for monitoring and enforcement of adopted reliability standards and appointed WECC as its Administrator for registration and monitoring compliance as per section 8 of the UCA. WECC’s role as Administrator for the BC MRS Program was renewed in the first amended Administration Agreement, dated August 21, 2014 and most recent revisions to the CMP were approved by Commission Order R-40-17, dated September 1, 2017;

C.      Pursuant to section 5.1.1 of the CMP, an entity subject to approved Mandatory Reliability Standards found in Confirmed Violation of a reliability standard must prepare an MP to correct the Confirmed Violation or prepare a description of how the Confirmed Violation has been mitigated. Pursuant to section 5.3.2 of the CMP, an MP with respect to a Confirmed Violation must be submitted to the Administrator within ten days following confirmation by the Commission;

D.      An MP with respect to a Possible Violation or an Alleged Violation may be submitted at any time and the Commission encourages entities to mitigate all perceived instances of noncompliance upon detection;

E.       On November 25, 2016, RTA submitted MPs (Version 1) to address the reliability standards noted above and on March 30, 2017, WECC rejected the MPs, requiring RTA to submit a second version of each MP;

F.       On September 27, 2017, RTA submitted MPs (Version 2) to address EOP-008-1 R1 and R7 with the proposed completion dates as identified below; and

G.      The Commission reviewed WECC’s Recommendations and considers acceptance of the MPs (Version 2) is warranted.

NOW THEREFORE pursuant to section 125.2(10) of the UCA and in accordance with the CMP, the Commission:

1.       Accepts the MPs (Version 2) with the proposed completion dates as identified above; and

2.       Orders that this order and all related material be held confidential, given that the intent of Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) standards is to protect the bulk electric system against cybersecurity compromises that could lead to misoperation or instability, and information related to an Entity’s non-compliance with CIP standards could potentially be used to compromise or disrupt that system.

DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this            6th             day of December 2017.

BY ORDER

Original Signed By:

W. M. Everett, QC

Commissioner