Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec has officially proposed a new rate for large data centers, set at 13 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), which is about double the price currently paid by customers on the high-power rate.<\/p>\n
In a press release issued Thursday morning, the Crown corporation asked the R\u00e9gie de l\u2019\u00e9nergie to introduce this new rate, which would apply to data centers consuming more than 5 megawatts (MW).<\/p>\n
If the R\u00e9gie de l\u2019\u00e9nergie approves its creation, this new rate will be introduced in the second half of 2026.<\/p>\n
Projects over 5 MW remain subject to a selection process. For data centers already connected to the grid, Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec is proposing a gradual transition to the new rate over five years.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, The Canadian Press highlighted two decrees published on January 28 in the Gazette officielle du Qu\u00e9bec asking the R\u00e9gie de l\u2019\u00e9nergie to create two new categories of electricity consumers: one for data centers and the other for cryptocurrency blockchains.<\/p>\n
Premier Fran\u00e7ois Legault makes no secret of his interest in the development of data centers, even though they consume a lot of energy and Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec no longer has a surplus.<\/p>\n
Its goal is to develop Quebec\u2019s digital sovereignty, in a context where it has become more risky to entrust the management of Quebecers\u2019 data to American companies.<\/p>\n
The interest of data center companies in Quebec\u2019s green energy is well known, and Fran\u00e7ois Legault maintains that they are willing to pay the price.<\/p>\n
In addition, Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec is also proposing to increase the rate for cryptographic use applied to blockchains to 19.5\u00a2\/kWh.<\/p>\n
This rate is also scheduled to come into effect in the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory approval, and a transitional rate will be offered to current customers for three years.<\/p>\n
\u2013This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec has officially proposed a new rate for large data centers, set at 13 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh),…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-485427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}