BC does not necessarily need power from Alberta but the utilities here have the advantage of shutting down turbines in the dams in moments and backing up the water when there is a glut of power in the marketplace that brings the spot prices down (these can change by the minute). Many times, producers that cannot shut down production (gas fired turbines, pulp mills, nuclear etc.) need to get rid of surplus electricity and power becomes very cheap for a few hours because they cannot cut back or shut down production easily.
Hydro plants take advantage of this by buying power when it is cheap and then running the water when prices are high making money on the spread. This is one of the reasons that wind and solar are not as easily incorporated because the utilities cannot control the ability to generate power when it is required. Until huge power storage (batteries, pump storage etc.) are available the balancing of load and generation on the North American grids will remain an extremely complicated task that most people not in the industry could not ever understand.
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