The Demand Response Behavioural Program from BC Hydro gives eligible customers—particularly businesses—a straightforward way to earn rewards by manually shifting their electricity use during periods of high demand. Reduce or postpone power consumption at key times and receive monetary incentives in return.
Here’s how the program works in practice:
- Businesses register for the program and agree to receive alerts about “demand-response events”. Each event is up to 4 hours.
- At least 12-24 hours before an event, BC Hydro notifies the participant, allowing time to plan action.
- During the event, shift or shed normal electricity use (eg, delaying large-load equipment or reducing HVAC load) to avoid the peak.
- At season’s end, earn a reward based on the average kilowatt (kW) reduction achieved across all events. Eligible businesses can earn about $50 per average kW of demand reduction over the events.
As consumption grows across the country, we’re seeing programs pop up to curb the heavy demand on the grid.
In British Columbia, electricity demand surges during certain periods—typically cold winter evenings when heating loads are highest, and increasingly in summer as cooling and electric-vehicle charging grow. Managing these peaks is essential for system reliability.
By reducing or shifting peak demand, BC Hydro can also defer or avoid costly grid infrastructure upgrades—such as new generation capacity or transmission expansion. That means keeping rates more stable for all customers.
How the Program Pairs with BC Hydro’s Energy Storage Incentive (ESI) and Polaron’s Offers
The Demand Response Behavioural Program becomes even more powerful when combined with BC Hydro’s Energy Storage Incentive (ESI). While demand response rewards customers for shifting electricity use during peak periods, the ESI program provides financial support for installing battery-storage systems that make shifting easier and more reliable. With on-site storage, businesses can reduce their grid load during events automatically—drawing from their battery instead of curtailing operations.
Polaron enhances this opportunity with 0.99% low-interest Sunline financing on battery storage systems that qualify for the Energy Storage Incentive. This allows businesses to adopt storage technology with no upfront cost while ensuring measurable reductions in peak demand charges and improved performance in demand-response events.
Is your BC business tired of uncontrollable expensive demand charges? Fill out our form and we’ll qualify you for BC Hydro’s battery program as well as our Sunline Financing offer.
