BC Hydro says customers have once again broken an all-time record of summer peak electricity usage – one day after breaking the previous record.
Preliminary data, BC Hydro said, shows between 5 and 6 p.m. – the hour customers use the most electricity – reached 8,870 megawatts on Wednesday evening. The record comes amid a heatwave across much of B.C.
It comes just a day after the previous record was broken.
On Tuesday, peak usage hit 8,715 megawatts. That broke an August 2025 record of 8,652 megawatts.
BC Hydro says that despite the record-setting demand, its system “has continued to perform reliably, with sufficient capacity available to meet customer needs.”
The news release adds that BC Hydro will continue to monitor system conditions closely as hot weather persists.
FortisBC, which operates in B.C.’s Southern Interior, reported high demand, but nothing record-setting.
On Wednesday, the system delivered 735 megawatts of electricity, which exceeded the peak the previous week.
However, FortisBC’s all-time summer record is 764 megawatts which was set during the June 2021 heat dome.