This essay was written by Nancy Wright, vice-president of operations and business engagement for New Economy Canada. It was originally published by Business in Vancouver on June 26, 2026.

Economic growth is a priority for British Columbia. We want more investment, more industry, more housing, and more clean technology development. All of those ambitions depend on one thing: affordable, reliable and clean electricity.

Without it, governments must ration growth. Developments face longer waits for connections, projects are delayed or cancelled, and investment flows elsewhere. Yet while many forecasts suggest electricity demand will double by 2050, BC Hydro’s new energy plan released this week is planning for only half of that – a 50 per cent increase in supply.

That gap should concern any business leader focused on growth and competitiveness. 

The International Energy Agency has dubbed today’s era “the Age of Electricity.” With good reason. Globally, capital investment in clean electricity, grids, and things that depend on them now far exceeds investment in conventional energy. Here in B.C., a booming resource sector and growing consumer interest in heat pumps and EVs are driving demand for more electricity. 

BC Hydro’s new plan illustrates a broader challenge: our electricity planning system remains rooted in a different era. 

For decades, electricity planning has been shaped by a reasonable principle: don’t build more infrastructure than you need. This conservatism is borne from a regulatory process and planning culture concerned about the risk to ratepayers of overbuilding the system, driving up rates and bills in the process. While it may have served British Columbians in the past, it isn’t fit-for-purpose in today’s economic reality, when demand for new electricity—whether for a mine, a data centre, electric buses, or heat pumps—can show up far faster, and more unexpectedly, than new supply can be built. 

To its credit, British Columbia has been investing in growing our electricity system the past several years. The John Horgan (Site C) dam is now online. Fourteen new renewable projects developed in partnership with First Nations are advancing. The North Coast Transmission line is being built to support growth in the northwest in the natural resource sector, particularly new and expanded mines and LNG. And a $36 billion capital investment is underway to upgrade and expand BC Hydro’s grid.

But this is a drop in the bucket of what we’ll need in the coming decades.

As Premier David Eby noted while announcing new wind projects in 2024, “Clean and affordable electricity is key to powering economic growth and unlocking private-sector investment that creates thousands of good jobs here in British Columbia.” Earlier this year, Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions Adrian Dix put it even more succinctly: “Clean electricity is the backbone of B.C.’s economy.”

They’re right. Abundant clean power and electrification provide greater energy security, strengthened competitiveness, reliable jobs, more affordable and stable energy costs, healthier communities and less climate pollution. It’s also key to attracting new investment in the industries expected to drive the next generation of economic growth. 

Recognizing this reality, governments across Canada are increasingly planning around a doubling of electricity demand by 2050. Prime Minister Carney’s new national electricity and electrification strategy, Powering Canada Strong, is built around that objective. And B.C.’s own clean energy strategy, and the BC NDP’s 2024 election platform similarly pledged to double supply by 2050. 

Yet BC Hydro’s latest plan falls well short of that ambition.

New Economy Canada’s partners span the full electricity value chain—from renewable energy producers and grid equipment manufacturers to electrification providers and industrial users. Our message to the government is simple: B.C. should align its electricity planning with its economic ambitions and commit to double supply by 2050. You cannot be a clean energy superpower, as the Premier aspires, without enough clean energy.

An electricity system built for only half of what we need will lead to difficult choices about who gets power and when. 

Clean, affordable and reliable electricity underpinned the province’s economic success in the 20th century, and it can do the same in this century—but it requires the courage to change how things are done, and that starts with a course-correction on BC Hydro’s plans to 2050.

In the Age of Electricity, power is economic infrastructure. If B.C. is serious about fulfilling its economic ambition, BC Hydro needs to increase its clean electricity ambition to match it.