What is an Electrical Planning Report?

In simple terms - for strata's, the report looks at your electrical system. It tells you about your buildings electrical situation and what you can do with it moving forward.

Why do we need an Electrical Planning Report?

This is required because of the Clean BC Roadmap for a green future. After 2030 we wont be able to buy gas equipment such as - gas space heaters, gas water heaters or gas powered cars.

The Electrical Planning Report outlines all the information about your buildings current electrical system and gives you advice. The report isn’t telling you what to do. It’s a tool in your toolbox to help you plan for the future.

It’s valuable information to give you the power to make decisions for your building moving forward.

The Report Focuses On:

• Heating

• Cooling

• EV Charging

An Electrical Planning Report is:

• A report on the current electrical system in the building

• Shows possible future electrical needs

• The limitations of your current system

• Advice to reduce electrical capacity (such as LED lights)

• Options to increase electrical capacity (such as electrical upgrade)

What it Isn't

• It’s not a quote

• It’s not your specific plan about what to do

• It’s not an EV Ready Plan

Benefits - Knowledge is Power:

• Valuable information for current and future residents

• Strengthen the decision making of the strata council

• Potentially save money on building upgrades

• May help increase value of the building

• Mitigate potential problems in building that may arise.

Isn't This the Same as an EV Ready Plan?

Not exactly, the purpose of the reports are different.

• An Electrical Planning Report provides an overview of the buildings electrical system to help strata’s plan for the future. The strata is required by law to obtain the report.

• An EV Ready Plan focuses on electric vehicle charging only and includes a budget to proceed with a defined project. The EV Ready Plan is not required by law. It exists for the purpose of applying for rebates to install EV charging infrastructure.

What's in the Report?

• Valuable information for current and future residents

• Mainly the Current Capacity of the strata’s electrical system

• The Existing Demands on the system such as heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, elevators, mechanical equipment, appliances and EV Charging infrastructure (if any)

• Current peak demand and space capacity of the electrical system

• Peak Demand - Busiest electrical day of the year like at Christmas when everyone is home cooking with the lights on, Christmas trees plugged in and EV Cars charging.

Estimates & Advice

• An estimate of how much more electricity you’d need if you switched all your gas equipment to electric. Example: using electricity to heat water instead of gas.

• Estimate for future electrical demands - like EV Charging

• What things could the strata do to reduce the demands (LED’s etc.)

• If you made these steps, how much electrical would you free up

When is the Deadline?

• The deadline is December 31st, 2026

• The government is taking this seriously and apparently there are consequences to not meeting the deadline. More to follow.

• Strata cannot vote to avoid or defer the plan

• Good news is you only need to get this report done once.

How much does this cost?

• Right now the EPR report is under $4,000 but as more buildings start requesting these reports the price may go up. Size of the building also influences the price of the EPR.

• The cost of the EPR can be paid from either the Operating Fund or the Contingency Reserve Fund

• This report is for the benefit of the strata and its residents. It’s not to be submitted or reviewed by the government.