Assessing public participation in Canadian electric utilities

This paper utilizes a qualitative review of three case studies to analyze the impact of public participation on the regulatory filings of Canadian public electric utilities (Crown Corporations). This study identifies four public participation best practices and assesses the public consultation activities of three Canadian electric utilities to find a correlation between public participation methodology and outcomes (successful regulatory filings). After determining that the main challenge to effective public consultation is an uninformed public, this paper develops three policy options to mitigate the problem that BC Hydro (a Canadian public electric utility) has had too little success obtaining regulatory approval for new generation capital projects. The proposed options are: a) the Mutual Gains Approach, b) the Constituent Network Approach and c) No-Build Options. The case study utilities are BC Hydro, Manitoba Hydro and Hydro-Québec.