Eby maps out B.C.'s trade-war power strategy with an eye on Doug Ford and Elon Musk

British Columbia is carefully watching the actions of both Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) when it comes to managing its power supply, B.C. Premier David Eby says.

Aggressive moves from each could have an impact on B.C's ability to buy and sell electricity in the United States.

For his part, Ford is going direct with his political and economic fight with the United States, saying he is following through on his promise to slap a 25 per cent surcharge on electricity from his province that is sold to 1.5 million customers in Minnesota, New York and Michigan.

He says he recognizes individual Americans are not to blame for the ongoing threats of tariffs and annexation, but that he wants to send a message to U.S. President Donald Trump that Canada should not be taken for granted.

"You touch the stove once, you get burned, you don't touch that stove again," Ford said. "We're going to make sure that we follow through with what we said we were going to do."

"We have to follow through until he drops tariffs completely."

Meanwhile, mass firings at a U.S. power supplier, a result of actions from DOGE, has Eby looking east, rather than south, for future power sales.

But he's so far expressed little interest in following Ford's lead in hitting the United States in its power banks.

"We're working with other premiers and with the federal government on how we can support the Team Canada approach with no-tariff responses," he said on March 5 about the possibility of B.C. imposing its own surcharges.

"There's no monopoly on good ideas ... but we're going to do it in a co-ordinated way with other premiers and the federal government."

Part of that hesitation is because of the highly integrated nature of the B.C. power system with the western United States, primarily Washington state but also Oregon and California.

The bulk of B.C.'s power is generated using hydroelectric dams, which generally produce enough electricity to make the province self-sufficient.

But that's not always the case: In 2024, for example, extended drought and reduced snowpacks meant about 20 per cent of B.C.'s power was imported from other regions, including the United States, said Sam Harrison, a senior analyst at Vancouver-based Navius Research.

Even so, Harrison said, the province also managed to earn a profit of roughly $1.5 billion by selling electricity to other jurisdictions, primarily the United States.