Utilities

 

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The new UBC Utility Portal will be launching in Summer 2025! This portal will improve your ability to manage and view your utility accounts. Learn more.

Utility Services

UBC’s Energy and Water Services unit provides electricity, natural gas, thermal energy and water services exclusively to the UBC community, which includes residential neighbourhoods, commercial outlets and schools. Our customer base consists of the UBC academic and administrative campus, ancillaries (such as Athletics and the UBC Bookstore), and tenant customers, including the University Neighbourhoods Association (UNA).

But, we’re not a utility in the traditional sense. We’re not competing for customers or generating profits for shareholders. Rather, UBC’s energy and water cost savings are reinvested into academic teaching and research activities, providing substantial value to the campus community.

  • We provide electricity, natural gas, thermal energy and water services to the university’s academic buildings at the cost of the commodities, which are significantly below market rates. The savings generated from this margin are reinvested into academic teaching and research activities, providing substantial value to the campus community.
  • The services for ancillary and tenant customers are sold at full market rates, based on the respective equivalent rates charged by the City of Vancouver, the University Endowment Lands, FortisBC and BC Hydro. All revenues from ancillary and tenant utility services are reinvested into UBC operations.

Meter Reading and Invoice Processing

  • UBC Energy & Water Services owns, maintains and reads revenue meters for electricity, water, natural gas, thermal energy (steam) and hot water. Meters are read from approximately the 15th of the month to the 21st. Invoices are mailed or emailed by the 10th of the following month.
  • Customers receive statements and a copy of their current invoice(s) each month. Payment must be received within 30 days. We’re able to accept payment by cash or cheque only at this time. To ensure your payment is applied to your account, please record your three-digit account number, or the invoice number, on the front of your cheque. Your three-digit account number identifies your unique customer information profile. You need to reference this number when making payments or contacting our office.
  • If you’d like to receive your bills in pdf format by email, please contact us at 604.822.9445 or utilities.clerk@ubc.ca.
  • If you’d like to drop off your bill payment, our office is open Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The customer service office is located at the Campus Energy Centre (CEC).

Online Payment Now Available

UBC Energy and Water Services is pleased to announce that online banking is now available to pay Utilities invoice through the following financial institutions:

  • Bank of Montreal
  • CIBC
  • Royal Bank of Canada
  • Scotiabank
  • TD Canada Trust
  • Vancity Credit Union
  • Central 1 (BC) Credit Union
  • Community Savings Credit Union

To use online banking, please visit your financial institution’s website and select “UBC Energy and Water Services” as a payee. Please ensure that you reference the account number located on the invoice. Payment can also be made using telephone banking, an automated banking machine, or in-person at your local branch.

If your financial institution is not listed, please contact Energy and Water Services at 604-822-1833.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does UBC receive its water?

Water is received from two main reservoirs: Seymour Reservoir and Capilano Reservoir. The water is delivered through Metro Vancouver’s piping system to a secondary reservoir. From the secondary reservoir, water is pumped to the University Endowment Lands (UEL) before being delivered to the UBC campus.

When does Metro Vancouver set its water rates?

Water rates are established at the beginning of each calendar year.

What is the Collection Period?

The collection period reflects the period of time (months) that your water usage is measured.

Why is our water bill higher during the summer?

Metro Vancouver applies a 25 per cent premium on base water rates during the summer months. These peak rates apply in June, July, August and September.

Why does my water bill have more than one rate?

Metro Vancouver’s water rates are established at the beginning of each calendar year. If the collection period of your bill “straddles” late 2017 and early 2018, for example, there will be two different rates applied to your bill: one for the rate period that ends December 31st, and one starting January 1st 2018 for the new rate period. The effective date distinguishes between the 2017 rate period and the 2018 rate period.

My strata receives a water bill every two to four months, which means charges sometimes vary considerably between each bill. How is the billing schedule determined?

Energy & Water Services performs meter readings and issues water service bills four times a year. However, because Metro Vancouver adds a 25 per cent surcharge on base water rates during the summer months, EWS’ billing schedule is adjusted to align with this seasonal rate change.

My water bill has a minimum charge. Where does that come from?

All buildings are billed a minimum charge of $25, or the cost of the actual water delivered, whichever is greater.

Natural Gas

UBC’s Energy and Water Services unit manages and maintains a UBC-owned natural gas distribution system on campus. We purchase natural gas from Shell Energy North America. The gas arrives through four FortisBC intermediate pressure pipelines delivering gas at 100 pounds per square inch gauge (PSIG) line pressure.

Campus Gas Sources

There are three sources feeding the campus’s natural gas system. A 12-inch main (i.e. pipeline) delivers gas to the steam generating UBC powerhouse. Branch lines from this main also deliver gas to the UBC hospital and the University Endowment Lands housing areas on the east side of Wesbrook Mall.

A second main interconnects with the central campus through a branch line from the South campus. Natural gas is supplied to the South Campus by gas mains entering UBC via 16th Avenue at Wesbrook Mall.

The third natural gas main on the North side of campus runs along Chancellor Boulevard and supplies Cecil Green College and the Chancellor Place neighbourhood. The central, South and North Campus area mains are cross-connected and deliver gas at 15 PSIG line pressure.

Additional Mains

There’s also a fourth natural gas main to the Acadia Park area operating at 5 PSIG, which is independent from the other three mains on campus. All four campus gas mains are non-interruptible. Only one branch from the 12-inch main supplying the UBC powerhouse can be interrupted.

An independent distribution system owned, serviced and maintained by FortisBC supplies natural gas to the Wesbrook neighbourhood in the South Campus area, which includes residential and commercial buildings.

Sanitary Sewer

UBC owns and maintains the sanitary sewage collection system on campus. We collect and discharge our sewage from two connection points to the Metro Vancouver sewer system.

  • North Campus sewage flows are discharged at the Northwest Marine Drive/Chancellor Boulevard and Wesbrook Mall/Chancellor Boulevard intersections.
  • South Campus sewage flows are discharged at the southern tip of campus at Southwest Marine Drive.

The majority of campus sewage drains directly by gravity to the connection points. There are a few localized segments on campus that are pumped into the gravity network. Our campus sanitary drainage and storm drainage systems are completely separated from one another.

Storm Sewer

Given Vancouver’s rainy climate, stormwater is an abundant resource to manage at UBC. For example, in 2012, 1,127 mm of rain fell on campus—enough water to cover the entire 1,000 acre campus in 1.1 metres of water.

UBC’s Energy and Water Services (EWS) unit is responsible for the management and maintenance of all campus stormwater mains. This includes the implementation of the UBC Integrated Stormwater Management Plan (ISMP) currently underway.

Managing Stormwater at UBC

Stormwater at UBC is managed at a campus-wide scale and at an individual site level. The stormwater solutions at the individual site level are tailored to the natural and built environment of each site and may include drains, stormwater channels, and rain gardens.

At a campus-wide scale, we collect stormwater within four large catchments: North Campus, West Side, 16th Avenue and South Campus. Each catchment has a distinct drainage path, which leads to different outfalls that drain directly into the ocean.

UBC Catchments

  • North Campus catchment flows are collected and conveyed to the spiral drain shaft at Cecil Green Park House, which redirects stormwater directly into the ocean.
  • Stormwater flows in the West Side catchment are collected and conveyed to the ravines at the Trail 7 outfall.
  • The 16th Avenue catchment flows are collected and conveyed to the ravines west of the UBC Botanical Gardens.
  • The stormwater flows in the South Campus catchment are collected and conveyed through ditches along Marine Drive to a culvert that crosses Marine Drive and discharges to the Booming Ground Creek outfall.

Campus stormwater drains by gravity directly to all the outfalls located on campus. Stormwater detention facilities are located at the South Campus pond and at the underground tanks beneath Nobel Park. The stormwater drainage and sanitary drainage systems on campus are completely separate from one another.

Water

UBC owns and operates its own water distribution system. UBC’s Energy and Water Services unit is responsible for the distribution of potable and firefighting water on the university’s 1,000 acre campus.

Metro Vancouver provides our campus water through the University Endowment Lands (UEL). Water is sourced from the Metro Vancouver’s Sasamat Reservoir. We receive water through two separate water mains: one along University Boulevard and the other along West 16th Avenue.

UBC’s Pressure Zones

Our water distribution system is divided into two pressure zones. The North Zone, which mainly feeds all the academic buildings and student residences, is the “high-pressure” zone. UBC-owned and operated water pumps currently located in the UBC power house maintain the high water pressure.

The South Zone is the “low pressure” zone, primarily servicing the residential buildings in the university neighbourhoods and the Lower Mall student residences. This zone has no pumping capability. Therefore, the water pressure is set by the pressure Metro Vancouver uses to deliver our campus water.

We have some ability to address the low water pressure in the South zone. Through a series of pressure reducing stations, we can regulate the various connections between the two water distribution systems on campus.

Water Supply Protection

UBC has a Cross Connection Control Program. The goal of this program is to protect and ensure our drinking water is not contaminated, after any backflow incident. For more information about UBC’s water supply, click here.