Solar panels in Campbell River, British Columbia

Campbell River at the north end of the populated Vancouver Island corridor produces 990 kWh/kW. BC Hydro rebates (up to $5,000 for solar plus battery rebate (up to $1,500 without Peak Saver, or up to $5,000 with Peak Saver)) and PST exemption apply.

Note: The federal Canada Greener Homes Grant and Loan programs are now closed.

Until 1 July 2026 a Campbell River homeowner faced a genuine decision: take BC Hydro’s solar rebate, or stay on 1:1 net metering and bank every exported kilowatt-hour at full retail value. That decision no longer exists. Following a BC Utilities Commission ruling, BC Hydro closed the net metering rate (Rate Schedule 1289) to new customers on 1 July 2026.

New systems go on Rate Schedule 2289 instead. BC Hydro buys your excess generation at a fixed 10 cents per kWh, and — a real improvement on the old arrangement — pays you every billing cycle rather than banking credits until a yearly reconciliation. Because retail electricity in Campbell River costs more than 10 cents, a kilowatt-hour you use yourself is now worth more than one you export. That makes the shape of your daily consumption matter in a way it did not before: running the dishwasher at noon rather than at midnight is now worth something.

Take the rebate. Declining it no longer preserves 1:1 net metering, because that rate is closed to new customers regardless. BC Hydro’s own position is that the solar rebate is expected to fully offset the impact of the rate change for an average residential customer. One distinction worth knowing: if you accept only the battery rebate and no solar rebate, your service rate is unaffected. BC Hydro also does not permit a pro-rated or combined arrangement across the two rates — it is one or the other.

It is the first question north-island homeowners ask, and the honest answer has two halves. On the annual total, latitude costs less than people expect: Campbell River is modelled at 990 kWh per kW against Victoria’s 1,040, a gap of about five per cent. That is not the difference between a good investment and a bad one. The second half matters more. Being further north makes the year lopsided — long daylight through the summer, genuinely short days in December — so production is concentrated into fewer months than it is in the south of the province. That used to be a non-issue, because 1:1 net metering banked your summer surplus at full retail value and you drew it back down over the winter. BC Hydro closed that rate to new customers on 1 July 2026. Exported energy now earns a fixed 10 cents per kWh, paid each billing cycle, while you buy power back at 11.87 or 14.08 cents. So a Campbell River system that runs a large summer surplus is selling low in July and buying high in January. Nothing about that makes solar a poor idea here — it makes matching the system to your own consumption, rather than to the available roof, the part of the design worth getting right.

BC Hydro does not charge one price. Residential customers pay Step 1 at 11.87 cents per kilowatt-hour up to a threshold, and Step 2 at 14.08 cents for everything above it. That structure matters more for solar than the average rate suggests.

Because solar reduces the total you draw from the grid, it takes kilowatt-hours off the top of your consumption — the Step 2 ones. A Campbell River household that sits well into Step 2 is therefore displacing power at 14.08 cents, not at the blended figure. A household that never leaves Step 1 displaces at 11.87 cents. Two homes with identical systems and identical production can save meaningfully different amounts for that reason alone.

It also means the first kilowatts of a system are worth more than the last. Once your generation has pulled you down out of Step 2, the remaining production is displacing cheaper power, and any surplus beyond your own consumption is exported at BC Hydro’s fixed 10 cents rather than credited at retail. That is the arithmetic behind sizing to the bill rather than to the roof.

For Campbell River, at 990 kWh per kW a year with a payback of 11 to 14 years, that distinction is worth getting right at quoting stage. Ask which step your household actually sits in across twelve months, and ask what the quote assumed. A saving estimate built on Step 2 for every kilowatt-hour will be optimistic for most homes.

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