ORDER NUMBER
R-20-19
IN THE MATTER OF
the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473
and
Teck Metals Ltd.
Application for Deregistration of Generator Owner, Generator Operator, Transmission Owner and Transmission Operator Functions with the Mandatory Reliability Standards Program
BEFORE:
W. M. Everett, QC, Commissioner
on September 12, 2019
ORDER
WHEREAS:
A. On July 29, 2019, the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC), acting as the Administrator for the British Columbia Mandatory Reliability Standards Program (BC MRS Program), issued a Recommendation for Deregistration (Recommendation) of Teck Metals Ltd. (Teck) for the functions of Generator Owner (GO), Generator Operator (GOP), Transmission Owner (TO) and Transmission Operator (TOP);
B. Section 125.2 of the Utilities Commission Act (UCA) assigns exclusive jurisdiction to the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) to determine whether a “reliability standard,” as defined in the UCA, is in the public interest and should be adopted in BC. On June 4, 2009, the BCUC issued Order G-67-09 specifying that entities subject to reliability standards must register with the BCUC;
C. In accordance with the Administration Agreement between WECC and the BCUC, dated September 8, 2009 and renewed most recently on July 5, 2019, WECC makes registration recommendations in its role as the BCUC’s Administrator for the BC MRS Program;
D. Order R-40-17, dated September 1, 2017, approved the most recent version of the Rules of Procedure for Reliability Standards in British Columbia (ROP) Appendix 1: Registration Manual which states that every owner, operator and user of an element of the Bulk Electric System (BES), as that term is defined in the North American Electric Reliability Corporation Glossary of Terms and adopted by the BCUC, is a candidate for registration with the BC MRS Program;
E. On April 28, 2010, WECC issued a Recommendation for Registration of Teck for the functions of GO, GOP, TO and TOP and by Order R-118-10 dated July 8, 2010, Teck was registered for the functions of GO, GOP, TO and TOP with the BC MRS Program;
F. On January 21, 2019, FortisBC Inc. (FortisBC) submitted documentation to the BCUC and WECC, accepting assignment of compliance responsibility for Teck’s GO, GOP, TO and TOP functions at the Waneta Plant, effective December 1, 2018. Following a fulsome review, on March 1, 2019, WECC recommended that the BCUC accept Teck’s assignment of compliance responsibility to FortisBC and on March 5, 2019, the BCUC accepted this documentation as an assignment agreement between FortisBC and Teck for Teck’s GO, GOP, TO and TOP functions;
G. By letter dated July 29, 2019 to the BCUC and copied to Teck, WECC informed the BCUC of its Recommendation to deregister Teck for the functions of GO, GOP, TO and TOP as of December 1, 2018;
H. Pursuant to Section 2.2 of the ROP Registration Manual, Teck did not file a response to the Recommendation with WECC or the BCUC within the prescribed 21 days; and
I. The BCUC has reviewed WECC’s Recommendation as well as the additional information submitted by Teck and considers acceptance of WECC’s Recommendation for deregistration is warranted.
NOW THEREFORE, pursuant to section 125.2(10) of the UCA and in accordance with the Registration Manual that is Appendix 1 to the ROP, the BCUC approves deregistration of Teck for the GO, GOP, TO, TOP functions as of December 1, 2018. Teck is not required to demonstrate compliance with Mandatory Reliability Standards approved for British Columbia at this time and Teck is required to contact the BCUC should its operations change.
DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this 12th day of September 2019.
BY ORDER
Original signed by:
W. M. Everett, QC
Commissioner