Why Is My Strata Required to Get an Electrical Planning Report?: A Guide for Metro Vancouver Strata Councils

The full guide

The short answer: because section 94.1 of the Strata Property Act, added in 2023, says so. A strata corporation with five or more strata lots must obtain an Electrical Planning Report by December 31, 2026 if it is in the Metro Vancouver, Fraser Valley or Capital regional districts, and by December 31, 2028 everywhere else in British Columbia.

The longer answer is a story about electric vehicles, heat pumps, and a problem many strata owners had run into for years. Here is how the requirement came about, in the Province's own words.

The problem the Province set out to solve

Owners in apartment buildings and townhouse complexes who wanted to charge an electric vehicle at home often could not. Nobody knew how much spare electrical capacity their building had, and changes to common property needed a three-quarter vote. When the Minister of Housing, Ravi Kahlon, introduced the legislation on April 6, 2023, he described owners who wanted an EV and said "the lack of charging stations in their buildings is holding them back." Josie Osborne, then Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, added: "When people have access to EV charging stations at home, they're much more likely to purchase electric vehicles."

Where it came from: CleanBC

The requirement grew out of the Province's climate plans. Introducing the bill at second reading, Minister Kahlon said it fulfilled commitments going back to the 2018 CleanBC plan, "which promised to explore ways to help make sure people living in MURBs can charge electric vehicles at home", as well as the 2019 Zero-Emission Vehicles Act, the Minister's 2020 mandate letter and the February 2023 throne speech. (A MURB is a multi-unit residential building.)

The CleanBC Roadmap to 2030 set targets for zero-emission vehicles of "26% by 2026, 90% by 2030 and 100% by 2035" of new light-duty vehicle sales, and made a specific promise: "we will bring in 'right-to-charge' legislation, allowing more people to install EV charging infrastructure in strata and apartment buildings." A building cannot add charging for its owners without knowing whether its electrical system can carry it. The Electrical Planning Report is the Province's answer to that question.

Bill 22 in the Legislature

The Strata Property Amendment Act, 2023 (Bill 22) was introduced on April 6, 2023, debated at second reading on April 25, passed committee and third reading on April 26, and received Royal Assent on May 11, 2023. It added four things to the Strata Property Act:

• Section 94.1, the requirement to obtain an Electrical Planning Report by dates set in the regulations;
• Sections 90.1 to 90.3, a process for owners to request EV charging;
• the report as a record of the strata corporation; and
• majority votes, instead of three-quarter votes, for certain decisions about EV charging.

At second reading the Minister summed up the report's purpose: "the bill requires strata corporations to obtain an electrical planning report to help understand the buildings' electrical capacity and plan for the expansion of electric-vehicle charging." In committee he added: "The report is about setting benchmarks — the capacity, what the usage is — and this report could be disclosed to new buyers if requested."

Not everyone thought the bill went far enough. The Opposition critic, Mike Bernier, told the House that "this is not the right-to-charge, as was put forward by this government." The distinction he was drawing: the bill gives owners a right to request charging, which council must not unreasonably refuse, rather than an automatic right to install it. The majority-vote change took effect at Royal Assent on May 11, 2023. The rest waited for the regulations.

December 6, 2023: the rules arrive

On December 6, 2023, Order in Council 671/2023 (B.C. Reg. 261/2023) brought the rest of Bill 22 into force and added the details to the Strata Property Regulation: a new Part 5.1 for owner EV-charging requests and a new Part 5.2, "Electrical Planning Report", setting the deadlines, the exemptions and the report's content. It also added a line to Form B, the information certificate buyers receive, asking whether the strata has obtained an Electrical Planning Report.

The Province's news release that day said the report "will help stratas plan for future upgrades and demands on their electrical systems, such as conversion to heat pumps and installation of cooling equipment, and support resident requests for EV charging," and that the regulations "support the Province's CleanBC Roadmap to 2030."

Why two deadlines, and why the regional district decides

Section 5.7 of the regulation defines a "specified area": the Capital Regional District and the Metro Vancouver Regional District, each except islands accessible only by air or boat, and the Fraser Valley Regional District. A strata wholly or partly in that area has until December 31, 2026. A strata wholly outside it has until December 31, 2028. Your regional district decides your deadline, not your city.

Three more rules come from the same part of the regulation:

• A strata plan with fewer than five strata lots on December 31, 2023 does not need a report.
• A strata created after December 31, 2023 has five years from the deposit of its strata plan.
• Phased stratas follow their own timeline, with a new report for each later phase of five or more lots.

Our guide to EPR deadlines by region lists which communities fall in each group.

The report and your owners' right to ask for charging

The two halves of Bill 22 are connected. Under section 5.4 of the regulation, owners may make an EV-charging request under the Act from the earlier of the date the strata first obtains its Electrical Planning Report and the date its report was due. Council must decide a request within three months and must not unreasonably refuse it, and changes to common property related to EV charging need only a majority vote. The report is the document council leans on when it answers. Our guide to owner EV-charging requests covers the process in detail.

More than electric vehicles

EV charging drove the legislation, but the Province describes the report's job more broadly. Its overview page says Electrical Planning Reports help stratas "understand their current electrical capacity and meet new demands for electricity including electric vehicle (EV) charging and heat pumps." For many councils, the heat pump and cooling questions arrive before the charging ones.

What it means for your council today

• One report, one date. The regulation sets no renewal cycle for a strata that is not phased.
• A permanent record. The report is a record of the strata corporation, and it is disclosed on Form B when owners or prospective purchasers ask.
• Paying for it. The cost can come from the operating fund, or from the contingency reserve fund with a majority vote at a general meeting.

If your strata still needs its report, CF Electrical Services can help. One team handles it from the first call to final delivery, at a fixed price. See What is an Electrical Planning Report, anyway? for the short version of what you will receive, or request a fixed-price proposal.

Authoritative sources

• Bill 22 – 2023, Strata Property Amendment Act, 2023, BC Laws.
• B.C. Reg. 261/2023 (Order in Council 671/2023), BC Laws.
• Strata Property Regulation, Parts 5.1 and 5.2, BC Laws.
• Hansard, second reading of Bill 22, April 25, 2023.
• Hansard, Bill 22 in committee, April 26, 2023.
• Province of BC news release, April 6, 2023.
• Province of BC news release, December 6, 2023.
• CleanBC Roadmap to 2030, Province of British Columbia.
• Strata electrical planning report, Province of British Columbia overview page.