Much of the attention on British Columbia's Electrical Planning Report requirement has gone to the December 31, 2026 deadline — the one that applies in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, and Greater Victoria. But by land area, most of BC is on the other date: December 31, 2028. If your strata is in the Okanagan, the Kootenays, on Vancouver Island outside the Capital Regional District, along the coast, or in the North, this guide is for you.
Who has until December 31, 2028
Every BC strata corporation with five or more lots must obtain an Electrical Planning Report under section 94.1 of the Strata Property Act. The deadline is set by the strata's regional district — not its city — and the Strata Property Regulation puts every strata in one of two groups. The December 31, 2028 group is everyone outside the three earliest regional districts:
- Vancouver Island outside the CRD — Nanaimo, Parksville, Courtenay, Comox, Campbell River, Port Alberni, and the Cowichan Valley
- The Sea-to-Sky corridor and Sunshine Coast — Squamish, Whistler, Gibsons, Sechelt
- The Okanagan — Kelowna, West Kelowna, Vernon, Penticton
- The Kootenays — Nelson, Castlegar, Cranbrook, Trail
- The Cariboo–Thompson — Kamloops, Salmon Arm, Williams Lake
- Northern BC — Prince George, Terrace, Fort St. John, and beyond
One detail in the regulation surprises councils: islands accessible only by air or water are in the 2028 group even when their regional district is not. A strata on Bowen Island sits inside the Metro Vancouver Regional District, and a strata on the Southern Gulf Islands sits inside the CRD — both have until December 31, 2028, not 2026. If your strata is on a ferry-access island, check this rule before assuming the earlier date applies.
For the full picture of both deadline groups, see our guide to BC EPR deadlines by region.
The requirement is identical — only the date differs
A 2028-deadline strata does not get a lighter version of the requirement. Section 94.1 asks for the same report, with the same required content, whether the building is in Burnaby or Vernon: a review of the strata's electrical system and its capacity, an analysis built on utility consumption data, and an assessment of what future electrification — EV charging, heat pumps, electric hot water — would mean for the building, as set out in section 5.11 of the Strata Property Regulation. There is no exemption, deferral, or opt-out in either deadline group; the only reduced obligation is the narrow short-form EPR for stratas with no shared electrical infrastructure.
What's different outside the Lower Mainland
The legal requirement doesn't change with geography, but a few practical things do.
Your utility may be FortisBC. In much of the Okanagan and Kootenays, electricity comes from FortisBC rather than BC Hydro. The EPR still needs twelve months of consumption data — the request simply goes to a different utility, and the analysis works the same way in either territory.
The building stock is different. The 2028 regions have fewer concrete towers and more townhouse complexes, low-rise wood-frame buildings, bare-land stratas, and small mixed-use blocks — often with electrical systems that have grown in stages over decades. We work with most BC strata building types — often wood-frame walk-ups and townhouse complexes, and larger buildings too — and every report is scoped to the building in front of us, not a template.
Rebates don't stop at the Lower Mainland. The BC Hydro EV Ready program, including the rebate of up to $3,000 toward an EV Ready Plan, applies across the province — and a completed EPR satisfies the planning-document prerequisite for the program's standalone EV charger rebate.
Part 9 buildings: a simpler path to a compliant report
The BC Building Code sorts buildings by size and use. Part 9 — the Code's "Housing and Small Buildings" part — generally covers buildings of three storeys or less with a footprint of 600 square metres or less. That describes a large share of the strata stock in the 2028-deadline regions: townhouse complexes, low-rise wood-frame buildings, and smaller mixed-use blocks.
The classification matters for an EPR because the Strata Property Regulation also defines who may prepare the report. For a strata corporation where every building on the strata plan is a Part 9 building, the regulation's list of qualified persons includes a journeyperson in the construction electrician or industrial electrician trade — a Journeyperson Electrician, as defined under the Skilled Trades BC Act — alongside professionals registered with EGBC or ASTTBC. The Province's guidance for the preparation of Electrical Planning Reports sets this out in plain language.
The practical takeaway for councils: where a strata's buildings all fall under Part 9, the Journeyperson Electrician pathway is often the most cost-effective route to a fully compliant report — the trade the regulation names for these buildings is the one that works on exactly this kind of electrical system every day. Whichever pathway a proposal uses, the report content requirements are the same, so ask any provider which qualification will prepare your report and confirm the scope covers everything section 5.11 requires. See how to check whether your strata's buildings are Part 9 for more detail.
A 2028 deadline is generous — if it's used
Two years and more of runway sounds like a long time. Here is what actually has to fit inside it:
- The council's own decision cycle. Getting the EPR into a budget, requesting proposals, and passing a resolution can span one or two general meetings depending on your strata's calendar.
- The report itself. A properly done EPR takes six to ten weeks, and it depends on utility consumption data whose turnaround the strata cannot fully control. The queue also tightens as a deadline approaches — a pattern the 2026 regions are living through now.
- Acting on what the report says. The EPR is a planning document. Its value is greatest when the council has time to take its recommendations to owners, budget for them, and sequence them — before they become urgent.
And one more clock worth knowing about: the owner EV-charging request framework in sections 90.1–90.3 of the Strata Property Act comes into effect for a strata on whichever comes first — the day it obtains its EPR, or the day its EPR deadline passes. Either way the framework arrives; the difference is whether council meets it holding a capacity analysis or without one.
The stratas that will have the easiest path to December 31, 2028 are the ones that put the engagement in place early and let the runway work for them. CF Electrical Services works with strata corporations across British Columbia, from the Island to the Kootenays to the North — request a fixed-price proposal and we'll tell you plainly what an EPR involves for your building. See why some 2028-deadline stratas are booking their EPR in 2026 for what an early booking locks in.
Authoritative sources
- Strata Property Act, section 94.1 — the Electrical Planning Report duty (BC Laws).
- Strata Property Regulation — the deadline groups, the report content requirements (section 5.11), and who may prepare the report (BC Laws).
- Strata electrical planning report — Province of British Columbia overview page.
- Guidance for the Preparation of Electrical Planning Reports — Province of British Columbia (May 2026).
Written by CF Electrical Services — BC strata electrical consulting: Electrical Planning Reports, EV Ready Plans, and electrification project management.