RE:Interesting read...
Yes ... I too have heard about Vancouver mandating all new electric only buildings. In my conversation with someone in the industry, I mentioned how that would dramatically raise heating costs and their reply was a rather nonchalant YES, it would. It will take many years to create a critical mass of all electric buildings, but that is where it's going.
This electrification creates numerous challenges that await city dwellers in coming years, first of which is an increasing vulnerability of an all digital electric grid and it's susceptibility to being hacked.
Texas size power outages could be catastrophic for those entirely dependent on the electric grid for their heating. Having to resort to burning one's biodegradable furniture and organic bed linnens on the balcony in order tot keep from freezing to death during a masssive power outage, no longer seems far fateched. It's no wonder rural BC is seeing such dramatic increases in population. The exodus out of the city is just beginning.
Welcome to the digital/electric age. Until someone can invent an electric furnace that enables average wage earners to still put food on the table, "Smart" homes may not turn out to be as smart as everyone is being led to believe.