BC Hydro CEO Dave Cobb has stepped down to take a job with the Jim Pattison Group.

Cobb has been CEO of BC Hydro for 17 months, starting in May 2010. During that time the B.C. government ordered a review of the Crown corporation's operations that resulted in hundreds of layoffs and cutting proposed rate hikes in half.

The utility has also been frequently in the news as customers and municipal politicians have raised concerns about wireless smart meters being put into every home in the province at a cost of over $900 million. The provincial government mandated the initiative as part of a Clean Energy Act.

Cobb worked on the 2010 Winter Olympic Games as vice-president of marketing for VANOC before joining BC Hydro.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.