The short answer: an Electrical Planning Report (EPR) is a high-level overview of your building's electrical capacity and the demands it will face in the future. Every BC strata corporation with five or more strata lots must have one, by December 31, 2026 or December 31, 2028 depending on where the strata is. It tells your council how much electricity the building can carry, how much it already uses, how much room is left, and what adding EV charging, heat pumps and other electric equipment would ask of it.
That is most of what a council needs to know. The rest of this page fills in the detail in plain language.
A check-up, not a construction plan
The Province describes the EPR as a high-level planning tool. It is an overview of capacity and future demands, not a detailed analysis, and it cannot by itself be used to install new electrical equipment. When the strata or an owner later wants to add a charger or a heat pump, a qualified professional selects the equipment and confirms the capacity at that point, with the EPR as the starting picture.
A useful way to think about it: the EPR is the building's electrical check-up. It measures where things stand and flags what would need attention, so that later decisions start from facts instead of guesses.
What is in it
The required content is set out in the Strata Property Regulation. The Province summarizes it as information about:
- the current capacity of the strata's electrical system;
- the existing demands on that system;
- an estimate of peak demand and of the spare capacity left over;
- an estimate of the capacity needed for future demands such as EV charging and heat pumps; and
- recommendations for managing and reducing demand. The Province's own example is freeing up capacity by switching to LED lighting.
In CF Electrical Services' reports, those numbers rest on two things: a property assessment of the building's electrical rooms and equipment, which the Province's guidance recommends, and twelve months of consumption data from BC Hydro or FortisBC. Our guide to what an EPR must contain lists every required item.
What it is not
- It is not an EV Ready Plan. The Province describes the EPR as a general overview of the strata's capacity and demands, and an EV Ready Plan as a detailed plan for EV charging in every parking stall. The EV Ready Plan is optional, and a BC Hydro rebate of up to $3,000 pays toward it. See What is an EV Ready Plan?
- It is not a work order. The report describes the building and its options. Any electrical work that follows is a separate decision your council makes, with the report in hand.
Who reads it, and for how long
The EPR becomes a permanent record of the strata corporation. It must be disclosed on the Form B Information Certificate when owners or prospective purchasers ask for it, so it will be read by people who were never at the council table, for years. The Province recommends the report leave out council members' personal contact information and project price quotes, and it notes the value of a report that is clearly written and easy to understand.
What it sets in motion
Once a strata has its EPR, or once its deadline has passed, whichever comes first, owner requests to install EV charging follow the process in the Strata Property Act: a request cannot be unreasonably refused, and council must decide within three months. The EPR is the document council leans on when it answers. Our guide to owner EV-charging requests walks through it.
The short-form exception
A narrow short-form report exists: where every strata lot receives electricity directly and separately from the utility, rather than through the strata's own common-property system, Regulation 5.11(3) lets the report record the preparer's qualifications and confirm that arrangement. Most stratas do not qualify, and eligibility is confirmed from the building itself.
How CF Electrical Services prepares one
One team handles your report from the first call to final delivery: a fixed-price proposal, the property assessment, the request for your BC Hydro or FortisBC consumption data, the report in plain language, a presentation to your council when you want one, and answers to your questions afterwards. See our Electrical Planning Report page, or request a fixed-price proposal.
Want the long version?
- Electrical Planning Report for BC Strata: The Complete 2026 Guide
- Why Is My Strata Required to Get an Electrical Planning Report?
- The Province's EPR rules, explained
Authoritative sources
- Strata electrical planning report, Province of British Columbia overview page.
- Guidance for the Preparation of Electrical Planning Reports, Province of British Columbia (May 2026).
- Strata Property Regulation, BC Laws.
Written by CF Electrical Services — BC strata electrical consulting: Electrical Planning Reports, EV Ready Plans, and electrification project management.