VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 18, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) initiated its consultation process with retail dealers of gasoline and diesel fuel in British Columbia (BC) as part of a new retail data collection pilot (Pilot) starting in November 2020. As outlined in the BC government’s Special Direction to the Fuel Price Transparency Act (FPT Act), the Pilot will inform the development of retail fuel regulations in BC.
As Administrator of BC’s FPT Act, the BCUC is responsible for determining the process of selecting retail dealers to be a representative sample of retail fuel operations across BC, as well as receiving regular fuel reports from the selected retail dealers.
Retail dealers in BC and industry associations are invited to provide written comments on the BCUC’s proposed Pilot sampling methodology and Retail Draft Reporting Guidelines, which outline how to submit fuel data in alignment with the Special Direction. The Pilot sampling methodology and the Draft Reporting Guidelines will be available on GasPricesBC.ca/RetailPilot by no later than Tuesday, September 22, 2020. Written comments are due by Friday, October 9, 2020, and will be part of the public record and used to finalize the BCUC’s Sampling Methodology and Retail Reporting Guidelines. The BCUC will also be issuing a survey to all retail dealers to collect information about their retail fuel operations.
The BCUC will be hosting the following online Information Sessions for retail dealers and industry associations to provide a brief overview of our process. To register, please contact Commission.Secretary@bcuc.com and include the name of your entity, your name and title, and contact information.
| Online Information Sessions | Date (2020) |
| BCUC Information Session #1 | Tuesday, September 29 12 pm – 1:30 pm Pacific Time |
| BCUC Information Session #2 | Thursday, October 1 11 am – 12:30 pm Pacific Time |
| BCUC Information Session #3 | Tuesday, October 6 9:30 am – 11 am Pacific Time |
More information about the BCUC’s planned engagement activities and the Pilot is available here.
Background
On November 18, 2019, Bill 42 – The Fuel Price Transparency Act was introduced in the BC Legislature by Minister Bruce Ralston. The FPT Act requires companies to report information and data on their activities in the gasoline and diesel fuel market in BC. Bill 42 received Royal Assent and became law on November 27, 2019. On March 9, 2020, the BC government announced the BCUC as the Administrator of the FPT Act. As the Administrator, the BCUC is responsible for collecting and publishing information about gasoline and diesel fuel activities in BC in an effort to promote competitiveness and public confidence in the competitiveness of the fuel market.
As a first step in providing the public with more information about how gasoline and diesel prices are set in BC, the BCUC launched GasPricesBC.ca on April 7, 2020. Through a series of dashboards, GasPricesBC.ca displays publicly available data, which visitors can customize to view information based on geography or price components.
On August 14, 2020, the BC government established FPT Regulations per Order in Council (OIC) No. 474 requiring those in the wholesale industry to submit regular reports to the BCUC, and Special Direction to Section 4 of the FPT Act, requiring retail dealers to submit fuel data to the BCUC in a retail data collection pilot. Per OIC No. 474 and the Special Direction, wholesale and retail reporting to the BCUC will begin in November 2020.
About the BCUC
The BCUC is a regulatory agency responsible for oversight of energy utilities and compulsory auto insurance in British Columbia. It is the BCUC’s role to balance the interests of customers with the interests of the businesses it regulates. The BCUC carries out fair and transparent reviews of matters within its jurisdiction and considers public input where public interest is impacted.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Krissy Van Loon
Manager, Communications
Phone: 604.660.4727
Email: Krissy.VanLoon@bcuc.com