BC Govt Confirms $1.46 Billion Error in Natural Gas Revenue Forecast

The British Columbia government has confirmed that its forecast for natural gas revenue contained errors worth $1.46 billion over five fiscal years.

The most significant error was a 44-cent overstatement in the forecasted per-gigajoule price of natural gas this fiscal year, said Energy Minister Adrian Dix.

Dix explained that the errors were caused by human mistakes, including botched currency conversions and incorrect assumptions about data formats. He stated that the province's forecasting is based on private-sector estimates of natural gas prices, which are provided in Canadian or U.S. dollars.

The Energy Ministry staff applied an incorrect formula across a spreadsheet, leading to an overstatement of revenue, Dix said.