THE Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia has released a report, Independent Audit of Capital Asset Management in BC Hydro, and Auditor General Carol Bellringer says: “We found no significant deficiencies in BC Hydro’s asset management systems, activities and practices. As a result, we have no recommendations in this audit.”

Asset management is the purposeful and long-term processes that aim to get the greatest efficiency, for the lowest cost, out of an asset over its lifetime. Good asset management is essential for BC Hydro to deliver on its mission to safely provide reliable, affordable, clean electricity throughout British Columbia.

BC Hydro manages a total of about $25 billion in assets. About 80% of its assets are things like dams, generators, power lines and poles, substations and transformers that are used to provide electrical service to the people of British Columbia. From April 1, 2017, to March 31, 2018, BC Hydro invested almost $2.5 billion to renew, repair or replace the assets it manages.

The audit looked at whether BC Hydro has the information, practices, processes and systems needed to support good asset management. Specifically, it looked at BC Hydro’s generation, distribution and transmission assets. “BC Hydro has good asset management practices as a result of a decade-long plan and associated efforts to carry out the plan, not by accident,” said Bellringer.

More than 10 years ago, BC Hydro made asset management an organizational priority. Since then, it has worked to implement international guidelines and good practice standards.

The full report is available on the Office of the Auditor General website: www.bcauditor.com