NEWS RELEASE – BCUC Initiates its Consultation Process for Fuel Retail Pilot
September 18 2020 - 7:06PM
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 2912 pm – 1:30 pm Pacific Time |
BCUC Information Session #2 |
Thursday, October 111 am – 12:30 pm Pacific Time |
BCUC Information Session #3 |
Tuesday, October 69:30 am – 11 am Pacific Time |
More information about the BCUC’s planned engagement activities
and the Pilot is available here.
BackgroundOn 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 LoonManager,
CommunicationsPhone: 604.660.4727Email: Krissy.VanLoon@bcuc.com