[6] BC Hydro's various facilities generate between 43,000 and 54,000 gigawatt hours of electricity annually, depending on prevailing water levels.

Sensible growth and expansion of the power, streetcar and coal gas utilities meant that BC Electric was a major company in the region.

Dams and hydro-electric generating stations were built on Vancouver Island on the Puntledge, Jordan, and Elk rivers in the 1920s.

New dams were planned, including the diversion from the Bridge River to Seton Lake, near Lillooet, but the economic depression of the 1930s halted this business expansion.

In 1958, BC Electric began construction of the oil-fired (later converted to natural gas) Burrard Generating Station near Port Moody.

The gas turbines at the Burrard Generating Station were decommissioned in 2016 to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and the plant continues to be used as synchronous condenser facility.

[11] BC Hydro continues to own the railbed of the former BC Electric Railway interurban route through Burnaby and New Westminster (on which a portion of the Skytrain Expo Line was built), as well as the railway from North Delta through Surrey, Langley, and Abbotsford all the way to Chilliwack (which continues to be operated by Southern Rail).

[12] In 2003 the BC government passed several pieces of legislation to redefine and regulate power utilities in British Columbia.

A second smaller concrete dam was later built downstream, closer to Hudson's Hope for the Peace Canyon Generating Station which was completed in 1980.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s BC Hydro investigated the feasibility of geothermal power production at Meager Creek, north of Pemberton.

[20] In May 2014, a federal-provincial Joint Review Panel released a report into the project's environmental, economic, social, heritage, and health effects.

In 2013, BC Hydro had 127 Electricity Purchase Agreements in its supply portfolio, representing 22,200 gigawatt hours of annual energy and over 5,500 megawatts of capacity.

[27] BC Hydro belongs to a power sharing consortium which includes electric utilities in Alberta, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California.

In 2013 British Columbia's minister of energy and mines, Bill Bennett spoke to why BC Hydro was agreeing to a $750 million settlement with California over claims Powerex manipulated electricity prices.

[28] BC Hydro's Power Smart program encourages energy conservation among its residential, commercial, and industrial customers.

Its in-house Resource Smart program is used to identify and implement efficiency gains at existing BC Hydro facilities.

[36] There has been some criticism of this policy on the basis that it will result in Hydro paying significantly higher rates to private producers than it would have if the power were self-generated.

[39] In 2024, BC Hydro initiated agreements for nine wind farm projects, expected to collectively generate nearly 5,000 gigawatt hours annually, increasing the grid's capacity by 8% by 2031.

This C$6 billion investment in wind energy underscores BC Hydro's efforts to meet growing electricity demand with sustainable solutions.

[41] BC Hydro's profitability is affected by its large debt, estimated to reach five billion dollars by 2017.