What BC Hydro’s 2026 changes mean for going solar in Victoria.

If you’ve been researching solar in BC for a while, you may remember rules that no longer apply. 2026 brought three real changes from BC Hydro, one about how your export credit is calculated, one about who’s allowed to install your system if you want the rebate, and one narrow option for people who already have a system. Here’s what each one means.

1. Net metering is closed to new customers, replaced by the self-generation rate

Following a BC Utilities Commission decision on March 24, 2026, BC Hydro closed its old net metering rate (Rate Schedule 1289) to new customers. As of July 1, 2026, new solar customers go on Rate Schedule 2289, the self-generation service rate.

The practical difference: under net metering, exported solar was banked as future kWh credits, essentially a one-for-one swap with the grid. Under RS 2289, any solar you export beyond what you use gets paid out in that billing cycle at about 10¢/kWh, while the power you use yourself still offsets your bill at the full retail rate, roughly 12.5¢/kWh. There’s no more banking exports for later.

This is exactly the shift we cover in detail in Net Billing Explained: the gap between the export rate and the self-use rate is now the whole game, and it’s why we size and design systems, and pair them with a battery, around keeping more of your solar working inside your home rather than exporting it.

If you already have a net metering account, you’re not affected right away. BC Hydro is honouring existing RS 1289 accounts for 10 years from the account’s original start date, after which they roll onto RS 2289 automatically.

The one-time repayment option

There’s a narrow exception for people who received a solar rebate before the March 24, 2026 BCUC decision. If that’s you, BC Hydro is offering a one-time option to repay your rebate and stay on the old net metering rate (RS 1289) for the full 10-year window from your original start date. It’s a real trade-off, you keep one-for-one banked credits, but you give back the rebate dollars to do it, so it only makes sense for a specific set of accounts. If you think this might apply to you, it’s worth a call to BC Hydro directly to run your numbers before deciding.

A quick before and after

• Old (RS 1289, net metering): exports banked as kWh credits, used to offset future bills one-for-one against the retail rate.
• New (RS 2289, self-generation): self-used solar still offsets your bill at the retail rate (~12.5¢/kWh), but anything exported beyond that is paid out that billing cycle at ~10¢/kWh, no banking.
• Who’s grandfathered: existing RS 1289 accounts, for 10 years from their original start date.
• Who’s new: every solar customer connecting from July 1, 2026 onward goes straight onto RS 2289.

2. Your installer must be an HPCN member, or the rebate disappears

Since June 1, 2026, BC Hydro requires that solar and battery installations be completed by a Home Performance Contractor Network (HPCN) member to qualify for rebates. It’s not a minor paperwork detail: if your installer isn’t an HPCN member, the rebate simply isn’t available for that project, regardless of the equipment.

ToSolar is an HPCN member. We meet BC Hydro’s training, insurance, licensing and quality-assurance requirements, and we register your project and file the rebate paperwork on your behalf as part of every install. If you’re comparing quotes, this is one of the first things worth confirming with any contractor, not every solar installer in the CRD has made the cut yet, and new members are still being added.

3. Rebate amounts themselves haven’t changed

Despite all the rate and eligibility changes, the core rebate figures are steady: up to $5,000 for eligible solar systems, and up to $1,500 for eligible battery storage (Tesla Powerwall remains excluded from all BC Hydro rebates; our SigenStor battery qualifies). EV charger rebates are unchanged too. The full current breakdown is in our BC Hydro rebate guide.

Why a battery matters more under the new rate

Under old net metering, sizing advice was simple: build to the roof, bank the surplus, spend the credits down over winter. Under RS 2289 that banking is gone, so a kWh exported at 10¢ that could have been used at home for 12.5¢ is a small loss every single time it happens. A home battery is what closes that gap: it holds your midday surplus and serves it back into the house in the evening, at full retail value, instead of letting it leave the property for a lower credit. That’s on top of the backup power a battery gives you if the grid goes down. Our Backup Designer lets you model both the runtime and the savings side for your own household.

What this actually means if you’re planning a system now

• The rebate math is unchanged, so there’s no financial reason to rush or delay a project on rebate amounts alone.
• The design math has changed. Because exports are worth less than self-use under RS 2289, a battery earns its keep faster than it did under old net metering, both for backup and for shifting your own solar into the evening.
• Contractor choice now has a hard gate. Confirm HPCN membership before you sign anything, it determines whether you get the rebate at all.
• Existing systems aren’t forced to change anything today. RS 1289 accounts keep their terms for 10 years from their start date; there’s no action required unless you received a rebate before March 24, 2026 and want to weigh the repayment option above.

How ToSolar handles it

Every project we design now accounts for RS 2289 from the start, sizing and battery decisions are modeled against the real self-use and export values, not the old one-for-one assumption. As an HPCN member, we register the project and file your rebate paperwork as part of the install, so the June 1, 2026 requirement is simply handled rather than something you need to track yourself. If you already have solar on the old net metering rate, we can also walk through whether the repayment option makes sense for your account before you decide anything.