City Electrician

312.   (1) There shall be a City Electrician appointed by the Council who shall have such duties and powers in addition to those provided by this Act as the Council may from time to time prescribe.

(2) If the City of Vancouver enters into an agreement under section 5 of the Safety Standards Act, the City Electrician is a local safety manager for the purposes of the Safety Standards Act.

1953-55-312; 2003-39-99.

City Electrician's powers of entry for inspection

313.   The City Electrician, or any person authorized by the City Electrician, may enter any building or premises at any reasonable time for the purpose of inspecting and testing any wiring, appliance, equipment, conduit, or apparatus used or designed, or intended for use, for or in connection with the generation, transmission, supply, distribution, or employment of electrical energy for any purpose (in this Part referred to as "electrical works").

1953-55-313; 2022-15-75,Sch 3.

Powers of Council

314.   (1) The Council may, subject to the Safety Standards Act and the regulations under that Act, provide

(a) for regulating and inspecting any electrical works, and for defining the same;

(b) for prohibiting any person from installing any electrical works until the person has obtained a permit therefor from the City Electrician;

(c) for fixing the terms and conditions upon which the City Electrician may issue such permits;

(d) for compelling the removal and for preventing the sale or use of any electrical works which do not conform with the provisions of the by-law;

(e) for adopting, in whole or in part or with such modification as may be provided in the by-law, the rules and provisions of the Canadian Electrical Code promulgated by the Canadian Standards Association with respect to electrical works, and constituting as regulations under the by-law the rules and provisions so adopted or modified;

(f) for regulating the placing or maintenance in any street of any electrical works, including the poles or other means of support thereof;

(g) for requiring that any person permitted to erect any poles in a street shall afford to the city reasonable accommodation thereon for such wires or other equipment as may be required for the purposes of the city upon such terms as may be agreed upon or, failing agreement, upon terms to be fixed by arbitration under the Arbitration Act;

(h) for the construction of underground conduits in streets, and for permitting the use thereof for telegraph and telephone cables and other electrical works upon such terms and conditions, to such extent and for such charges, as may be prescribed in the by-law;

(i) for the lighting of streets, squares, and other city property by the erection, construction, and installation of light standards or by any other means;

(j) for contracting for the supply of electrical energy for the purpose of lighting streets, squares, and other city property.

(2) Nothing in section 313, except in so far as it relates to electrical works (elsewhere than in a generating plant or substation) designed or intended for use for or in connection with the final consumption of electrical energy, and nothing in subsection (1) of this section, except clauses (f), (g), (h), and (i), shall apply to any electrical works maintained and used by any electric light, electric power, or street-railway company or transportation company operating trolley-coaches.

(3) The powers conferred on the Council by the said clause (f) shall not be used

(a) to require any of the said companies to remove any presently existing electrical works or any renewal thereof, or to move the same to any new location, except upon condition that the city shall pay reasonable compensation to such company for the expense and loss of and from such removal or moving, the amount thereof to be such as the city and such company may agree upon or, in the event of failure to agree, as may be settled by arbitration pursuant to the Arbitration Act; or

(b) with respect to underground duct banks or vaults of any of the said companies, except as to the position and over-all size thereof.

(4) The Council may make by-laws for regulating the placing and maintenance in any street by any gas company of gas-pipes, governors, regulators, and other equipment and apparatus used in connection with the transmission or distribution of gas.

1953-55-314; 1961-76-6; 1981-13-18, proclaimed effective February 25, 1982; 1986-3-53, effective July 4, 1986 (B.C. Reg. 148/86); 2003-39-100; 2011-25-481; 2022-15-73,Sch 1; 2023-16-27.

Water powers

315.   Subject to the provisions of the Water Sustainability Act, the Council may provide for the diversion and use of water, within or without the city, for power purposes, and may cause any water-power project to be examined, investigated, and reported upon, and may acquire, develop, establish, equip, operate, and maintain the necessary dams, plant, works, and buildings for the purpose of producing and conveying to the city electrical energy or other power produced by the use of water, and may use, for the purposes of the city, or dispose of any energy or power so produced.

1953-55-315; 2014-15-196.

Saving clause

316.   Nothing in this Act shall be held to affect or impair any contract with the city or any rights, powers, or privileges now had or enjoyed under its Act of incorporation or any special Act by a public utility as the same is defined by the Utilities Commission Act.

1953-55-316; 1997-25-181.