What Must an Electrical Planning Report Contain? BC's Section 5.11 Checklist: A Guide for Cariboo & Thompson Strata Councils

The full guide

Section 5.11 of the Strata Property Regulation sets out what a BC Electrical Planning Report (EPR) must contain. It is a content requirement, not a suggestion — a report missing any of it does not satisfy the strata's Strata Property Act obligation. Here is what the regulation asks for, in plain language, and why the list is identical no matter which qualified person prepares the report.

What section 5.11 lists

Subsection 5.11(2) sets out the information every full report must include:

1. the date of the report;
2. the name of the person who prepared it, with their qualifications, any errors and omissions insurance they carry, and their relationship to the strata corporation;
3. the current capacity of the strata's electrical system;
4. a list of existing demands on the system, including any EV charging and the heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting systems;
5. the current peak demand on the system and its spare capacity;
6. where it applies, an estimate of the capacity needed to power systems now running on another energy source, such as gas heating;
7. an estimate of the capacity needed for other anticipated future demands, including heating, cooling and ventilation changes and future EV charging;
8. steps, if any, the strata could practicably take to reduce demand on the system;
9. upgrades or modifications, if any, the strata could practicably undertake to increase capacity; and
10. an estimate of the capacity those steps and upgrades would make available.

That is the whole legal list. A report that leaves out any item does not satisfy the requirement.

What the Province's guidance adds

The Province's guidance for preparing EPRs (May 2026) goes further than the regulation on method. It recommends that the provider conduct a property assessment to become familiar with the strata, its electrical systems and its major loads, and it describes establishing peak demand from the building's measured maximum demand over a twelve-month period, using data from the utility. Neither is written into section 5.11, but both are how a report arrives at reliable numbers for items 3 to 5.

Future demand, item by item

Items 6 and 7 are where electrification lives. A council reading the report needs to see what each likely change, such as EV charging, heat pumps or electric hot water, would ask of the building's spare capacity, so a clear report estimates them separately rather than as one combined figure.

Reducing demand before upgrading

Items 8 to 10 ask the report to look at both sides: steps that free up existing capacity, such as load management or lighting changes, and upgrades that add capacity, each with the capacity it would make available. A report that lists only capital upgrades leaves the council without the lower-cost options the regulation asks about.

The exception: independently supplied lots

The regulation carves out one narrow exception. Where the utility supplies electricity directly and separately to each strata lot — rather than through the strata's own common-property distribution system — subsection 5.11(3) says the report only needs its date, the preparer's details and a statement confirming that independent supply arrangement. Most stratas, where common-property panels and distribution feed the building's units, do not qualify for this exception.

Does the content list change depending on who prepares the report?

No. The Strata Property Regulation's qualified-person list (section 5.10) does vary by building — for a strata where every building on the strata plan is a Part 9 building, the list includes a Journeyperson Electrician alongside professionals registered with EGBC or ASTTBC. But section 5.11's content requirement does not change with the preparer's qualification. Whether a Journeyperson Electrician or an EGBC/ASTTBC-registered professional prepares the report, the same physical inspection, the same twelve months of consumption data, the same three electrification scenarios, and the same demand-management analysis apply. A shorter list of who may prepare a report for a given building is not a shorter list of what the report must contain.

Using this as a hiring checklist

Before a council signs an EPR proposal, this list doubles as a set of direct questions for any provider: Will the report cover all ten items in section 5.11? Will you visit the building, as the Province's guidance recommends? Will you base peak demand on twelve months of our utility data from BC Hydro or FortisBC? Will you estimate EV charging, heat pumps and electric hot water separately? Does the report include demand-reduction steps, not just upgrades? Our full provider compliance checklist walks through these questions in more detail, including how CF answers each one.

How CF Electrical Services prepares its reports

CF Electrical Services prepares every Electrical Planning Report to section 5.11's full content requirement. As our standard practice, not a legal minimum, every report also rests on a property assessment and twelve months of consumption data we request from the utility, and models EV charging, heat pumps and electric hot water separately. We serve strata corporations across British Columbia. Request a fixed-price proposal, ask to see a redacted sample report, and see what strata councils and property managers say about working with us.

Authoritative sources

• Strata Property Regulation — sections 5.10 (qualified persons) and 5.11 (report content requirements), BC Laws.
• Guidance for the Preparation of Electrical Planning Reports — Province of British Columbia (May 2026).
• Strata electrical planning report — Province of British Columbia overview page.