BC Hydro is planning to set up an office in Toronto, Canada, according to the Toronto Star newspaper.
BC Hydro’s chairman, Brian Smith, told the newspaper that he hopes to be in business by this spring through the company’s energy trading subsidiary, Powerex. Through Powerex, BC Hydro purchases power from producers all over the northwest US and sells it to customers as far away as Mexico.
Smith told the Toronto Star that BC Hydro was invited to talk to Ontario municipal utilities and based on those discussions, the company has decided to open an office in Toronto to work with some of the utilities. BC Hydro will be targeting municipal utilities that will soon face the ups and downs of buying and selling power in a competitive market. Ontario’s newly-created energy market was supposed to open in November 2000, but it has been delayed. The market is now unlikely to open before November 2001.
