I met a guy once who worked for BC Hydro's communications division. His explanation went a bit over my head, but the gist of it was that the various power stations have to talk to each other, and by some sort of law they have to operate their own communications infrastructure that they have control over; they can't outsource to, for example, Telus.
So that could have been what your guys were working on. Except, the gentleman I talked to told me it was all wireless, not fiber. So, MAYBE, BC Hydro has decided to offer FTTH.
It actually isn't that far fetched. The cost of you or me starting a company to provide data service would be prohibitively expensive. But perhaps not so much for BC Hydro because they already own the poles, and they already have staff and trucks needed to install and maintain new infrastructure.
A guy can dream, can't he?
m.