Solar label traps that fail inspections
The Canadian Electrical Code sets the base set. The province and the local distribution company build on top of it, and a few of them publish wording of their own.
Colour in B.C., in detail
What the documents actually say
BC Hydro’s current standard, DGTIR-100 Rev. 3 (July 2026), sets no colour and no size for labels, and FortisBC’s Rev. 14 sets none either. BC Hydro’s sample net-metering drawing, marked SAMPLE, shows the DG disconnect ID and location labels black on white and the two warnings red. Some inspectors ask for black on white on those ID labels, so the kit ships white on red and the two ID labels are in the builder cut black on white.
The black-on-white 3.5″ × 1″ figure you may have seen came from BC Hydro’s superseded 2013 NMIR R1, and it applied to the revenue-meter notice “TWO POWER SOURCE, PARALLEL SYSTEM”. In Ontario, the white-on-black 75 × 19 mm meter plates come from Toronto Hydro’s legacy FIT/microFIT two-meter standard (DCS 17-9610, 2013), not its current one.
What your province adds
On top of the CEC base set, and before the local distribution company has its say. A heavy rule marks the jurisdictions that change what gets cut.
ONOntario
ESA-SPEC-004 R1 · ESA Bulletin 64-5-4 · ESA 64-7-2
Adds the two-power-source set and the DG source disconnect. Hydro One (DP-12-003) wants a MicroDER disconnect tag and a derated-capacity plate; Toronto Hydro (Ref. 3 Rev. 8) wants “MAIN DG DISCONNECT” and “WARNING / TWO POWER SOURCE / PARALLEL SYSTEM” lamicoids at the DG disconnect, with no colour or size set.
BCBritish Columbia
BC Hydro DGTIR-100 Rev. 3 · FortisBC Rev. 14
Colour, in detail. Neither BC Hydro’s DGTIR-100 nor FortisBC sets a colour or size. BC Hydro’s sample net-metering drawing shows the DG disconnect ID and location labels black on white, and some inspectors ask for that. Our kit ships white on red.
SKSaskatchewan
Changes the kitTSASK Appendix M · SaskPower ESR Rev. 3
Fifteen plates carry TSASK’s published wording — the largest set in the country. Adopted under the Electrical Inspection Act, so it is enforceable rather than advisory, and long enough wording that the plates grow and the kit price with them.
MBManitoba
Verbatim wordingMB Hydro Informative Bulletin 64-0
Twelve label types with verbatim wording, site-plan tags and a remote-disconnect locator. The only utility in Canada that names “engraved lamacoid” outright.
QCQuébec
Changes the kitHydro-Québec E.12-01 (2025-11-17) Annexe E · E.12-07
Eight labels, in French. Several are grommeted hang tags, black on white — lockout tags under CSA Z462 — not engraved plates at all.
NSNova Scotia
NSPI B-64-200, eff. 2024-07-02
Nine labels with NSPI’s own wording, which governs over the generic CEC text in NSPI territory. B-64-200 changed the DC conductor warning to “DC CONDUCTORS MAY BE ENERGIZED”; that plate is cut on request while it is added to the set.
NL · PENewfoundland & P.E.I.
Utility interconnection standards
One interconnection plate each on top of the CEC base set.
AB · NB · NT · YT · NU
Base set only · CEC C22.1:24
Nothing additional in the catalogue. Confirm the provincial amendment and the LDC’s interconnection standard before calling a kit complete. Alberta in full →