B.C. government confirms errors worth $1.46B in gas revenue forecasts

Errors including botched currency conversions led the British Columbia government to overstate its forecasted natural gas revenues by about $1.46 billion over five fiscal years, officials confirmed on Tuesday.

Senior staff with the ministries of energy and finance told a technical briefing the errors had been independently verified and corrections would be included in the province’s quarterly fiscal report expected later this month.

The briefing heard the impact on B.C.’s deficit — last pegged at $7.7 billion for fiscal year 2025-2026 — would be made clear with the release of that report.

The most substantial of the errors made by staff in the Energy Ministry related to US-Canadian dollar conversions, when a formula was incorrectly applied across a spreadsheet.

Correcting that error resulted in a price decrease of 44 cents per gigajoule of natural gas in the province’s forecasting for 2026-2027.

Budget 2026 shows incorrect forecasted prices per gigajoule ranging from $2.34 to $4.83 at plant inlet, referring to gas that hasn’t yet been processed.

The information in the briefing was provided on background, meaning not for attribution to an individual.

A second error involved the conversion of dollars per 1,000 cubic feet to Canadian dollars per gigajoule, amounting to a five-cent decrease in the forecasted price.

Two other errors stemming from the use of data from 2025 instead of this year’s figures resulted in a decrease in the plant inlet price of 1 cent per gigajoule, while adding 3 cents to the outlet price.

Combined, the errors amount to an average annual decrease in expected revenues of $292 million from this fiscal year to the one starting in 2030.

The impact for the current fiscal year is $306 million, dropping forecasted revenue by about 24 per cent, from $1.297 billion to $991 million.

The Energy Ministry is working with experts to improve its quality assurance process in forecasting moving forward, officials told the briefing.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2026.

By Brenna Owen | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.