The City of Surrey receives all of its electricity and natural gas from provincially regulated utilities. FortisBC handles all of the city’s natural gas needs, while BC Hydro, British Columbia’s largest generator and transmitter of electricity, fulfills Surrey’s electrical needs.
British Columbia does not allow residents to purchase electricity from competitive retailers, but there are many natural gas retailers which serve Surrey and the rest of the province. Currently, these retailers of natural gas include:
- Access Gas Services
- AltaGas
- Bluestream Energy
- Direct Energy
- Just Energy
- Planet Energy
- Summitt Energy
While generations of Surrey residents have relied upon FortisBC for their natural gas, businesses and homeowners often aren’t aware of the competitive prices offered by these retailers, or even the fact that they have a choice at all. To learn more about Surrey’s natural gas options, click the links above. You’ll find information about the plans offered to residential and business customers, such as fixed rate, variable rate, and fixed cost monthly plans.
To find out what rates are currently available in Surrey, fill out our convenient energy rate comparison form above.
Surrey Electricity and Natural Gas History
Named after the County of Surrey by the first English settler to visit the region, Surrey was incorporated in 1879, making it one of only six municipalities in British Columbia incorporated prior to the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Much of the early development in Surrey revolved around farming, as well as fishing the Fraser River. However, the copious cedar and fir forests surrounding the town quickly became the focus of a sizeable logging operation.
Surrey was largely rural in nature for much of its history. Even as late as the 1921 census, Surrey only boasted a population of 5,814 people. As a result, the modern accoutrements of society might have taken well into the 20th century to reach the town… if it wasn’t for the logging. In the fall of 1909, railway was being laid to connect the community with the British Columbia Electric Railway. The next year, the New Westminster-Chilliwack Railway opened.
As was often the case in the early 20th century, the advent of the railways was also the advent of electrification, and such was the case with Surrey. Today, Surrey’s population exceeds half a million people, forming a large share of the 4.4 million people served by BC Hydro.
