{"id":396163,"date":"2026-01-08T13:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T13:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/396163\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T13:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T13:32:14","slug":"things-that-will-be-more-expensive-in-b-c-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/396163\/","title":{"rendered":"Things that will be more expensive in B.C. this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the new year comes new resolutions and goals, and also increased fares and fees, as many things will be more expensive in B.C. in 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not only are grocery prices expected to climb by four to six per cent<\/a>\u00a0(with a family of four expected to spend an additional $994 this year), but there are also increases in things like utilities and transportation.<\/p>\n

Fees related to utilities
\n\"bc<\/p>\n

sophiecat\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

As of Jan. 1, FortisBC bumped up natural gas rates so that the average household will see an 11.1 per cent<\/a> increase in their bill, paying about $10.95 more each month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The utility says this supports upgrades to keep the gas system safe and reliable and fund energy-efficient rebate programs.<\/p>\n

FortisBC also increased its electricity rates by 3.63 per cent<\/a> on Jan. 1, which will result in an additional $5.35 each month for the average household. This is because of the higher cost of purchasing electricity.<\/p>\n

On April 1, BC Hydro will also be increasing its fares by 3.75 per cent, following an increase of the same amount the year prior<\/a>. The reasoning for the increase is that it can \u201ccontinue to build the critical infrastructure and supply needed to strengthen B.C.\u2019s economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rent and property<\/p>\n

The province set the rent increase limit to 2.3 per cent, down from three per cent in 2025.<\/p>\n

Vancouver will not increase its property taxes this year<\/a>, though most other Metro Vancouver cities will see a bump.<\/p>\n

In 2025<\/a>, rent prices fell five to 10 per cent in Vancouver, Burnaby, and the North Shore. A one-bedroom apartment in Vancouver, for example, dropped from $2,490 per month to $2,308.<\/p>\n

Homeowners in the Lower Mainland can also expect their assessed value to decline<\/a> between 10 and zero per cent.<\/p>\n

The province has also dropped the threshold for the B.C. Home Owner Grant from $2.175 million in the 2025 tax year to $2.075 million for the 2026 tax year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Transportation
\n\"Translink\"<\/p>\n

Shawn.ccf\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

By April 8, BC Ferries will increase their fares<\/a> between Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Both drive-up and prepaid fares for a standard vehicle and adult will cost $110, up from $95.<\/p>\n

Passenger fares will increase from $20 to $21.<\/p>\n

But the ferry service has also added additional \u2018saver fares,\u2019 offering lower prices on 30 per cent of its sailings during off-hours (like midweek, early morning or late evening).<\/p>\n

Their goal with these adjustments is to support customers \u201cby optimizing capacity, balancing costs across a large, geographically dispersed system, and encouraging more off-peak travel.\u201d<\/p>\n

In July, Translink will increase its transit fare by five per cent, adding an average of $0.14 to each average trip. This will be followed by two per cent increases annually thereafter.<\/p>\n

It will also add $1.50 to the YVR AddFare.<\/p>\n

This is part of the transit authority\u2019s investment plan to fund its services to the end of 2027 and cut its $600 million structural deficit by half in 2028.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the new year comes new resolutions and goals, and also increased fares and fees, as many things…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-396163","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-economy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}