$1.46 Billion Error Discovered in B.C. Gas Revenue Forecasts

The government of British Columbia has confirmed errors in its gas revenue forecasts worth $1.46 billion. These mistakes were independently verified and will be corrected in the province's quarterly fiscal report, due later this month.

The largest error occurred when a formula was incorrectly applied across a spreadsheet for U.S.-Canadian dollar conversions. This resulted in an overstatement of revenue by assuming figures were shown in U.S. dollars instead of Canadian dollars.

Correcting the errors led to a decrease of 44 cents per gigajoule of natural gas in B.C.'s forecasting for 2026-2027. The corrected forecasted prices per gigajoule range from $1.90 to $3.79 at plant inlet, down from $2.34 to $4.83.

The province's forecasting is based on private-sector estimates of natural gas prices in Canadian or U.S. dollars. The Energy Ministry is working with experts to improve its quality assurance process in forecasting moving forward.