
CRD calls for quick new deal to keep Williams Lake Power Plant open beyond 2025
WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — The Cariboo Regional District (CRD) is calling for the B.C. government and BC Hydro to speed up a new deal with Atlantic Power to keep jobs at a power plant in Williams Lake.
While Atlantic Power has an agreement with BC Hydro until October 2029, the CRD says failing to revise it could close the doors of the Williams Lake Power Plant (WLPP) as early as late 2025. The WLPP employs nearly 30 staff and contracts with more than 50 suppliers. The CRD also says the WLPP is the City of Williams Lake’s largest single taxpayer, providing $1.7 million each year.
In a news release issued Tuesday (Feb. 4), the CRD says rising costs to transport wood waste from farther away, declining waste wood volumes from local mills and a threatened timber supply are all translating into higher costs to operate the WLPP.
“Premier David Eby has expressed numerous times that our electrical system in the north needs more clean energy to support economic growth for the entire province,” Margo Wagner, CSRD board chair, states. “It’s extraordinarily counterintuitive to cause the closure of an existing facility that already checks these boxes and produces huge benefits for its host community simply by refusing to negotiate a reasonable agreement.”