Solar panels in Courtenay, British Columbia

Courtenay in the Comox Valley produces 1,000 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 Courtenay 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 Courtenay 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.

Courtenay’s climate is the reason people move here and the reason solar behaves the way it does: mild and oceanic, with warm, dry summers that deliver a run of clear high-output days. At 1,000 kWh per kW a year that is a perfectly good solar resource. The complication is timing. A dry, bright summer means a system produces well beyond what a household uses in exactly the months it needs least — and since 1 July 2026, BC Hydro buys that surplus at a fixed 10 cents per kWh rather than crediting it 1:1. Courtenay homes then buy power back through the wet, dark winter at 11.87 or 14.08 cents. That is the whole shape of the problem, and it is more pronounced here than in cities with cloudier summers. Three things follow. Size against your own consumption rather than the roof. Move what load you reasonably can into daylight hours, since a kilowatt-hour used at noon is worth more than one sold at noon. And consider storage on its merits rather than as an afterthought — in a place with a genuine summer surplus, the case for keeping your own electricity is stronger than it was under the old rate. BC Hydro’s battery rebate is up to $1,500 alongside solar, or up to $5,000 with Peak Saver enrolment.

Until the middle of 2026 the advice for a Comox Valley roof was simple: fill it. Under 1:1 net metering every surplus kilowatt-hour banked at full retail value, so a larger array was straightforwardly better and the only real limits were budget and roof area.

That changed on 1 July 2026, when BC Hydro closed Rate Schedule 1289 to new customers following a BC Utilities Commission decision. New self-generation customers take Rate Schedule 2289, under which exported energy is bought at a fixed 10 cents per kilowatt-hour. Courtenay buys electricity back at 11.87 cents on Step 1 and 14.08 on Step 2. Every exported kilowatt-hour is now worth less than the one you would otherwise have bought.

So the sizing question inverts. The right starting point is twelve months of your own bills, totalled in kilowatt-hours, because production you consume yourself is worth 11.87 to 14.08 cents while production you export is worth 10. A system built to cover your annual consumption captures nearly all of the available value; one built to fill the roof captures the same value on the first portion and 10 cents on the rest.

At 1,000 kWh per kW a year with a payback of 11 to 13 years, Courtenay still supports a solid system. But the Comox Valley’s warm, dry summers push a large share of production into a few months, which is exactly when a household is least likely to consume it — so the gap between a sized system and a maximal one is wider here than in a place with flatter output.

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