The BC government taxes most uses of carbon-based fuels in the province, including the natural gas and propane delivered by gas utilities, but provides a credit to refund the tax to users of biomethane.

Section 14.1 of the BC Carbon Tax Act sets out a biomethane credit, also known as the carbon tax credit, which customers receive when they buy biomethane from retail dealers of natural gas in BC, such as gas distribution utilities. The seller of the biomethane must give their customer the biomethane credit, and is then refunded the amount of the credit by the BC government.

As of April 1, 2022, the carbon tax rate on natural gas was $0.0979 per cubic metre, equivalent to $2.50 per GJ.

The Carbon Tax Act defines biomethane as “methane produced from biomass,” which is not inconsistent with the BCUC’s definition of biomethane. The BC government appears to have had no issues with gas utilities claiming the biomethane credit when the product sold is renewable natural gas, although Fortis Energy Inc. (Fortis Gas) was not able to reclaim biomethane credits from the BC government when it sold renewable gas from its inventory rather than biomethane purchased in the same reporting report.